Its time for a new age and a new approach.

Business “as usual” exists no more. As business owners, executives and upcoming professionals look to make sense of the current environment, Mitch Joel‘s latest book could not come at a better time. Ctrl Alt Delete reviews the essential aspects of what businesses must focus on to succeed and excel through this transitional time which he labels “purgatory”.

Mitch provides a valuable introspective that will benefit anyone, but perhaps the audience who will benefit most are those CEO’s and business leaders who are struggling with reservations about online investment, or those who do not “get it” at all.

This is not a book about social media, Facebook and Twitter. It’s about real business concerns. The stuff in the trenches, the stuff that produces profit and dollars. It’s serious.

At a time where the next steps seem unclear to many this book puts forth compelling examples and clarifies concepts as to why focus must shift for business to survive.

Mitch Joel is an author, podcaster and President of Twist Image – one of the largest independent Digital Marketing agencies in North America. He is known as a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert and community leader. When I heard about his upcoming book, I expected to delve into Mitch’s brilliant marketing mind, but the book was far richer and focused on the essential mindset shifts required for business leaders to succeed in our evolving “business-scape”. This is not a book about marketing, this is a book about success, about adapting and understanding what it takes to serve the modern consumer. It is well suited to entrepreneurs, professionals, business owners and anyone looking to strengthen their business to respond to the needs of consumers in this ultra connected time.

Utilitarian Marketing is Sexy

Everyone wants to know what the next big thing will be. When it comes to marketing, Mitch discusses the need for businesses to embrace a “kind” culture and focus energy on looking for ways to enhance their consumers lives through their marketing efforts: give them something they need. In the video below, filmed during his presentation at 140 Montreal in May 2012, Mitch highlights one of the stories found in the book. It supports a key concept that he presents as Utilitarian Marketing.

If businesses can find ways to make their customers lives easier, remove the friction from their experiences, while keeping things as simple as possible, they will succeed and move forward through this “purgatory”.  An important take away is the fact that people have moved from multiple screens to “One Screen” and that the majority of the consumers are on mobile, the key strategy needs to be to create something that the consumer must have. Taking advantage of the potential reach to the mobile consumer, companies will be fighting for valuable digital real estate, the app on their consumer’s phones.

A key piece of advice: It doesn’t have to be complicated.

The book warns people that perhaps too often, businesses have gotten so mixed into things that the levels of complication they have created are what hinder them. The answer: review, revise and keep it simple – do one or two things great. Reboot!

 

On Leadership & Charting The Path For the Future

Going into the second half of the book, I wasn’t sure what to expect, however I was pleasantly surprised. This section addresses a critical area of need in most businesses today: mindshift . As with any strong business approach, Mitch dissects the core of what is at the heart of any business: the individuals working within it. Although the book’s basis is in  marketing, it doesn’t take long to realize that what is really needed to succeed in today’s environment is a complete switch of mindset to what he refers to as a digital first posture. A switch that must take it’s roots in the leadership of any organization and extend through to every single player.

From a personal perspective, having had numerous conversations with many leaders in the community and business owners from across Canada and the US,  Mitch couldn’t be more on target.  I’ve discussed similar concepts in previous posts here and here. We see this challenge every day, people who are resting on the laurels of how business was always done, not realizing that the consumer is changing. Pockets of people who stay away from our technological advancements, leaning on the excuse that “face to face” is the only way to go, are sadly misguided not realizing that indeed there is no substitute for face to face conversation and relationship building, but what the consumer is demanding, and where they are connecting and feeling value is through the little things that help them in their day to day lives.

Utilitarian marketing is not about taking away “relationships” and replacing them with computers, it’s completely separate. It is about reaching your consumers where they are, and giving them something they need. Tell me this is not where the core of value will be.

For those still on the fence, and not knowing where to go next, Mitch invites you into a personal dialogue and conversation via Ctrl Alt Delete, he takes the time to share with you many case studies, examples and even personal stories that help switch the reader’s perspective to understand what the implications are of the changes we are seeing in society. Clarifying what it will take within organizations to make that jump out of purgatory and into rolling success.

I strongly recommend this book, and look forward to hearing your comments and insights below.

• For those of you who are lost, pick this up for direction.
• For those of you who work for an organization who do not work on culture and think sales gimmicks or Facebook alone will save the business, pick this up and give it to the CEO.  Not only will they thank you, but you’ll assure yourself a better work environment with an innovative culture for years to come.
• For those who miss the boat, or who wish to stay in the dark, enjoy the slow ride downwards because while others will reboot, adapt and shine, you’ll be left behind and as you look at your cell phone wondering why the lines aren’t ringing at your business you may look back and finally realize it’s because you chose to look another way.

For more insight from Mitch, you can subscribe to his weekly podcast here or follow his blog here. Ctrl Alt Delete is available on Kindle and through order on Amazon here, pick it up and start rebooting your business and your life. It’s time to move into the digital age with some solid leadership and innovation, this book maps a solid path and is a must read.

- Go…now & prosper.

Related articles

Stay tuned for my post appearing this week  in the #BEALEADER community where I focus on the leadership aspect of the book & the benefits of being “Squiggly”. You can also check out the articles below, as well as Mark Schaefer’s post from today: Carving a path through leadership “hell” with Mitch Joel.

• A CTRL ALT Delete Interview with Mitch Joel
• CTRL ALT Delete. Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends On It. Today Is The Day

The post CTRL ALT DELETE: @MitchJoel On Leadership,Sexy Marketing In A Digital Age | VIDEO appeared first on Perspectives.

• What are we going to write about?
• What kind of  “content” can we use?
• We don’t have the time, how on earth will we figure this all out?

What does it take to be engaging?

The answer is simple, it doesn’t come from hours of sitting around meeting tables writing content topics and editorial calendars. It comes from taking the issues and interests of your target population, listening to your employees and your customers and simply extending responses to the online world.

Java U, a Montreal based coffee shop had an awesome example of “real” content that makes for great community engagement.  Aside from having great coffee, the staff who works at the Ste-Catherine Street location are always friendly, and quite “engaging”.

They smile at you, they remember your favorite drinks, and when you talk to them, they are genuinely interested. They make it pleasant to come and see them. They take the time to know you. Does this sound the the recipe for success when managing a brand online?

Brilliance & Authenticity Come Naturally

A few months ago I noticed something new at their cash. Instead of having a simple tip jar, they started putting out two tip jars, and on each one they would write something different. What they chose to spotlight often allowed for some expression of personal taste or style. The first one I really noticed was “IronMan” or “Batman” (see photo in the collage below).

Where did this idea come from? Was it a long meeting where the top officials at Java U sat down and drafted hundreds of options? Or had a long discussion on how to come up with some “engaging activities”? Was it out of a marketing book? The idea has been in the franchise for years, and the weekly topics come from Phaedra, one of the Java U employees who so obviously cares and loves her job.  With simple execution and leadership values that not only allow for but appreciate & encourage creativity at work, this totally fun and easy idea keeps clients smiling.

@JavaUMTL on Ste. Catherine employees are given the opportunity to be creative. I love their tip jar campaign, where every week they put choices for people to “cast their vote” This week: “Don Draper or Don Draper?” I guess the choice is obvious here!

I asked Janet Lane, inspiring leader and General Manager for all the Java U  stores about the initiative, here’s what she had to say:

  “This is why I love hiring artists in the cafes – they are always full of creativity and know how to spark customer relations…..Phaedra who comes up with the weekly ideas is awesome!”  She also added, “Bimal Das, is doing an awesome job of managing that store and always comes up with customer centric ideas, like keeping the loyalty cards on the wall so customers who don’t want to carry them around, always have them nearby.”

Sometimes the best examples of strong content marketing & outstanding service come from the simplest ideas.

So what’s the recipe for success in business which also carries through online? It’s simple:

1. Hire people who care
2. Create an environment where creativity is not only appreciated, but encouraged
3. Spotlight your employees and your customers (notice how Janet attributed all this success to her awesome barista & store manager?)
4. It doesn’t have to be complicated, if it makes your customer smile – you’ve won.
5. Encourage participation with your efforts – but don’t make people go out of their way! The tip jars show clients you car about their opinion, their choice – yet don’t ask them to do anything out of the ordinary.
6. Provide light entertainment and a possibility for discussion.
7. Be consistent. The tip jar topics change every week. I for one look forward to seeing what Phaedra comes up with! It always makes me smile. Do something that keeps people coming back and having fun.

Some of the tip jar “campaigns” from Java U over the past weeks. It doesn’t have to be complicated to draw people in.

Yes, there is a lot more to content marketing than just one campaign, but the lesson from this very simple idea is as solid as they come – it doesn’t have to be complicated, it just has to relate to your clients and give them some value.

Next time you are racking your brain struggling to think about what you can write about, take a moment, look around ask the people on the front lines of your business what they think. Take the pressure off – a little creativity and fun might just solve all your problems and win the hearts of some new fans.

Giving that little extra:

Want to be inspired by what some other businesses do to make their customers feel special? Check out Stan Phelps’ excellent book:  “What’s Your Purple Goldfish: How to Win Customers and Influence Word of Mouth“  The Ebook is free on Amazon, today only and a great place to get inspired.

It’s the little things that often make the biggest impact.

What do you think? What kinds of small gestures or ideas have you come up with in your business that yielded high engagement or results?

The post Keep It Simple: Content Marketing & The 7 Step Recipe for Success with Clients appeared first on Perspectives.

The first time I heard someone say that, I thought, what an obnoxious saying. Lately, the more I think about it, the more I see it is true. The phrasing is a little rough, but the reality is there, all of our jobs are to make someone look or feel good. If we do this, we will have success.

I’ll take care of you, you take care of me.

• Your clients want you to make them feel valued and while you are at it save them or make them money and help them be successful.
• Your employees want the same thing
• Your company wants the same
• Your Facebook fans and Twitter followers also want this – give them something to share that makes them funny, smart, helpful, compassionate…or smile.

You get the picture.

At the end of it all, you want this too.

You need to surround yourself with people who “make you look good”.

As I was thinking about this, I came across this tweet from tonight’s “Lead From Within” twitter chat:

A10: The people we surround ourselves with make the difference between failure and success! #leadfromwithin

— LaRae Quy (@LaRaeQuy) April 10, 2013

The quote is right on.

Forget about the Jargon : Focus on Community

Forget about marketing, about objectives, about all the jargon that leads you to read more about how to be successful online (and off) and stop for a minute and think about how powerful it is when you have a community around you who cares, who supports you, who believes in you and essentially through all that makes you feel good, which in turn makes you look good.

I am thankful for my communities, for these people every day.

If a brand accomplishes this, then I am beyond “wowed”.

When you take a look around, who is driving your success, and how do you help lift the people around you get where they are going?

How often do you think about that, and how often are you focused on making people look good?

Focus on that. It’s a two way street, and if you focus on your side…the rest just follows.

What do you think?

• When you think about the people around you, about your success, what are your keys?
• More notably, what happens when we don’t make the people around us look good, when there is no support, when people are out for themselves?  Isn’t that what really drives the differences between success and mediocrity?

We are living in an interesting time, where social media allows us to live in this environment where people & brands who work as a team, who share and are giving  and who recognize others see success – it’s not unlike the “real life world” – it just is a little harder to see. If you take a close look whether it’s in the workplace or in circles of friends,  it’s those groups who have the confidence and generosity to spotlight those around them, who provide opportunities and share freely, who create cultures of success and creativity.

It’s not about social media. It’s about leadership, life and curating positive behaviors that attract & keep positive people around us – cultures of success.

The post Cultures of Success:Your Job Is to Make Me Look Good | A Two Way Street appeared first on Perspectives.

The core of your business: Your Employees

People often spend so much time trying to figure out how to reach their customers, grow sales and use social media for these purposes that they are at risk of forgetting the key members of their community: their employees.

Video is a powerful tool for employee engagement. People often think “video” then limit their thinking on what they can do with it. Companies should not limit themselves to focus on product or service offerings when they have a whole cast of stars within their team.

Here are 5 Ways to use video to spotlight your employees

…and in the process increase their engagement and create opportunity for your community to also get to know your business better.

1. Put photos to video and create memories of company events featuring your employees as the stars.

2. Use your videos in your recruitment efforts

It’s very difficult to get a feel for a company during the interview process. In order to build an amazing team, you want to attract candidates that share the same culture. Sharing these kinds of videos, or even creating videos asking people to share what they think it’s like working at the company is a great start. Keep it genuine, the right people will be able to connect with what you are sharing.

3. Ask employees to participate in videos sharing their thoughts in general

 or ask them about their challenges or accomplishments.

In this video, “Steve” addresses the challenge insurance people face from the general consumer who doesn’t know them or trust them.  

4. Next time you have a contest, involve your employees too.

Get your employees to participate – a great opportunity to show off your stars and get community involved. In the video below we we partnered with a local coffee shop, and went on site to do the draw. In other videos, we did the draw in the office. It was a lot of fun!

It’s also a great way to get them into the community and spotlight other local businesses.

5. Share these videos with your customers, over your internal employee networks and in the community.

Help people connect , learn about each other, and learn more about who is “behind the scenes” at your company.

Feature your employees in less traditional ways.

Wouldn’t you rather watch a video to hear what this guy has to say? (Employee of the Month = Photo credit: RoninKengo)

It’s great to be the employee of the month with a picture on the wall, but really – what does that really do towards getting to know people, or truly sharing who that person is? How about a video next time, asking the employee how they accomplish what they do so well?

It’s time to start thinking out of the box and getting your employees involved and motivated!

Not only will employees have fun and appreciate being involved in being a part of the company image and brand building, but they will also be invested in the messages they are sharing and will be able to join your company in the quest to provide a truly outstanding customer experience in real life and through social media activity.

Your first community is your internal one, if you build your fans there first it will contribute to both your online and offline success.

These are the things that help build engagement and create companies with soul.

I have been working on these kinds of projects for several years now, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing the employees delight when they realize that what they contributed to was important. If you need help figuring out what might work in your workplace, share your concerns in the comments, or send me a message, I’d be happy to see what we can do to engage your employees.

Remember every business is different, but what I hope you will see here is that you can do some pretty amazing things just by opening your mind and making everyone count – before you focus on your customers, focus on your employees – then they will take care of the customers for you!

Still Not for you? Keep an open mind.

ToonSwag by The Animated Woman @Littleanimation drawn during my panel discussion at #140Conf Montreal (#140MTL)

Final Notes:

• Just because you make a video, doesn’t mean you have to share it. Test different things out. Get your employee feedback first, see what you produce and take it from there. There is no harm in trying! Working together is a great team building opportunity. Remember this is about engagement! Not sure you know how to make a video, ask your employees to make some for you. Encourage their creativity.
• Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of being in a video. It will take time to bring all employees on board, or make them comfortable with appearing in video, however if you explain the reasons behind why you are asking them to share their thoughts, even the shyest of employees will get on board.
• All your videos do not have to be blockbusters, or go viral. They are simply touches that you offer for people to get to know you. The more you practice and make open sharing part of your culture, the more people will get involved.

Give people a chance and you may be surprised at the support and appreciation you will receive for making everyone a part of the social team.

Video provides an opportunity to create lasting moments and a feeling of collaboration that is exciting and new. Every workplace should find opportunities to share like that.

What do you think?

Is this a strategy that would work in your workplace or with your clients? 

Employees are the real stars of the business – doesn’t it make sense to feature them?

The post 5 Ways to Use Video for Employee Engagement appeared first on Perspectives.

You can’t have one social media strategy, or just decide to “do social media”. You have to realize what the term represents, that’s the first challenge I see when I speak with most people considering social for their businesses.

The Basis of Media

When you are speaking about using social media as an outreach tool in the general public the first thing you have to realize is that none of those people are reading “these” articles – the dialogue we all have about it on-line ,  its of no interest to them.

The people you are trying to reach are living their lives. Reaching them becomes marketing – just as you try and do in magazines or radio ads or newspapers. That’s the media part of the term.

In turn, from a business owner’s stand point, making decisions about social media use has to come from understanding deeper objectives and being in touch with your organization as a whole. Social media is not a new marketing strategy or sales vessel.  It’s not a substitute for customer service. It’s not about broadcasting a new logo or flooding a channel with messages, it’s about a mindset.

What is the “Social” Really About?

Social is about this ability for consumers, employees, and all people to be connected.  People using the on-line space to further their knowledge, interact with others, do research, play games, express themselves, grow, laugh, be entertained and of course throughout all this to share… The social part is about where you are reaching them and it’s the entire basis of all these pillars of social marketing success.

I think sometimes businesses, people looking into social  and marketers forget the why of why you have to be genuine, or why the goal is content, or consistency.

It’s the why that is important: You are reaching people via networks that they are specifically using for their own interests – you’re reaching them while they are looking at pictures of their kids or grand kids, while they are checking out who is dating who on Facebook, or via photo sharing sites where people like to look at images that inspire them – or maybe just keep them tuned in to

what’s happening at the coolest club or party. You may even catch them as they bitch about their horrible day exclaiming things like “FTW” or “OMG”… On the best day of their lives, the worse day of their lives, and every day in between. That’s where you are.

All of this is what contributes to these theories and schools of thought on how to do social “effectively”.

Be The Brand Who They Don’t Even Realize Is a Brand.

Doing social effectively is being able to infiltrate these circles. Make your way into their private lives and streams of information in a way that you provide value, support, entertainment or information. To do so in such a way that they feel they are sharing something from a friend.  Seeing something from a like minded soul. That you are giving them something worthy of their day, worthy of being among those in their private world, so much so, that when you’re successful they take pride in, or even get kudos for sharing amongst their peers.

The Brand With A Soul

That’s where the brand “being human” comes in, that’s where the necessity to not broadcast ads that are all “selly” comes in.  You won’t make it into anyone’s circle like that: not in real life and not on-line.

The only exception is to those who choose the route of appealing to people’s desire to win things, to get things for free, to get things for less. A good contest strategy can be very successful, but unless you craft it very carefully, you likely won’t win any hearts or deep brand loyalty, you’ll just be “that ad” – that hope to win something.

Then you won’t really be in their circles will you? You’ll just be a tool, not a soul.

The Craft

Using Social Media effectively is to have the gift of just being “you”, and being likeable – being funny, compassionate, entertaining – whatever your target client needs. If your brand can wrap it’s mind around that, you will understand that social isn’t a fad – it’s the effect of the people demanding genuine character from their interactions. That didn’t come from the on-line space, or from computers – that came from humanity.

Are you ready to be giving?

Call it social media marketing or call it being real and respecting people’s time and being a giving brand – whatever it is, I am pretty sure it’s here to stay. The social consumer will demand it and brands who really see this will adapt into understanding how to be human – not just a product. They will in turn, be welcomed warmly among the people. When they say it’s about being human, it really is – the more companies and  businesses start to see that instead of thinking that “social media” is some computer based, business saving cure or fad, the more successful brands will be, all the while contributing to the overall benefit of their consumers in the on-line space. It’s an opportunity to be more than just a product and really be a part of the community.

What do you think? 

The post Breaking Down Social Media : Finding a Soul in Brands appeared first on Perspectives.

The most engaging network? It’s a bold statement, but I think if we walk through the important aspects of engagement, you would undeniably agree, this app & network is about everything that works in engaged networks.

• Being genuine
• Feeling listened to
• Keeping open communication
• Sharing moments & emotionally driven messages

The catch? It’s only for two.

The benefit? Finding time in our increasingly digital worlds, and busy lives to make time for the important people in your life.

More and more we see situations where work has couples separated due to business travel, family commitments, and overall scattered and busy lifestyles. The trend of people having to make time for “Date Night” or other “special times” together is more and more common. So many people blame the increased digital world for this, it is nice to see an app that gives people a chance to reconnect on a one on one basis in that same digital space, when they are apart.

Shouldn’t people, especially couples, make that time for each other – isn’t an app impersonal??

Every network you have right now is “building relationships”. Too many people think that just because you are in a relationship, you wouldn’t need an app. Well maybe you don’t, however if you look at it as a commitment to spend that special moment in the digital world with the people you love, an app like couple can make that time apart – less “time apart” and more of an added interaction.

A touch point, a quiet place where your attention isn’t being drawn by all your Facebook friends, or work text messages and emails. There’s nothing in couple but the two of you.

Features:

Couple includes some pretty cool features all geared at staying connected and on top of things with your partner.

• It keeps track of important “dates” and gives you the opportunity to include other “dates” that will be shared time together. You can put in date nights, kids soccer games, special commitments, whatever you like. The point is it keeps it all together for you at a glance.
• It allows you to insert & share lists – these can be dream or bucket lists, long term goals, or how about just an updated grocery list. Keep connected to your home based tasks, Couple increases communication in a fun way.
• It allows you to share “Moments” – this is when you post a picture into your stream. It’s a nice way to share a private photo or fun times when you’re hanging out together. Maybe the whole world doesn’t want to see you enjoying a cup of coffee in your bathrobe on that business trip, but in Couple, you can share the moment, and keep it to yourselves. Another feature I like is the ability to go into the “moments section” and at a glance see a complete album of all those moments. Photos have a way of reconnecting us when we are feeling isolated or apart, this can work wonders on keeping that connection even when the other person is not around.
• Couple also allows for Voice memos/notes to be “spoken” into the stream, incase you aren’t someone who likes to text.  It also allows for that added touch of hearing the other person’s voice. You don’t need to leave it on their work voice mail, or worry about calling them at an inconvenient time (think time zone challenges), you can leave your message in Couple, and when the person can, they will listen.

Secrets to Engaging Success

Engaging is big word in social media, one that is over used, and over preached, but for this situation, I think its worth using one more time because this is what it is all about at the core: Making people feel special, listened to, emotionally moved, entertained. It’s every brand’s challenge, but what happens when you narrow that down and really make it one on one? Couple has nailed it. The potential for total engagement when the right two people couple up.

At first glace it seems pretty basic, but as you start to use it, you begin to realize there is something very special about this “network”.

Couple responds to some major needs in our world today and is ideal for people who want to keep in touch and connected, even when they are apart – whether it be throughout the day, or during business travel.

An End to Potential Communication Nightmares

The best thing is, its safe. Ever had this happen to you?

Between you and me, in my busy social networks and super fast tweeting, texting and broadcasting environment, I have to admit, sending the wrong message to the wrong person – or broadcasting a message intended to my partner in error is always a concern.

How about the possibility of using a business account to accidentally broadcast one of those personal messages. Couple solves that problem right away, and with the password protection option, it also prevents other people looking at your phone from seeing what you have in your Couple “network”.

I give Couple an outstanding five start review in my books, they have done a great job at developing the features, it truly is the most enjoyable and engaging social network out there, and it’s good for the heart and soul – letting you keep what’s important to you, near to you, even when you’re far.

Check Couple out here, and let me know what you think!

The post The Most Exclusive And Engaging Social Network | @CoupleApp appeared first on Perspectives.

Online and offline, people everywhere seem to be stunted by fear. This not only hurts your business, but it closes doors.  The worst part about fear is that not only is it hurting you, but I think in many ways it is obvious to those around you, and one must give some thought to the concept that people can “smell fear”.  When the environment is fear, people adapt and start to alter their behaviors to their own detriment.

Fear vs. Success

Success is bred of confidence – even if that confidence is in the fact that when you take a risk, something may go wrong (fear) however you will not let it stop you because you know you can make something out of it. Amber Osborne wrote a beautiful post that covers this idea here.

Leadership, Marketing and Culture

The greatest ideas in the world and the most innovative changes do not come from those who fear. They come from those willing to put themselves on the line, who face realities, who respond, and who also take a chance.

In the workplace, fear of speaking up can hinder and organization by eliminating the opportunity for members of the community to drive positive change by sharing ideas. Often it’s the collaborative perspective of people at all levels that add to the ability for a company to change with the needs of the consumer and to increase efficiency.

Some become so afraid of what people might say, they hanker down and create environments where people simply “function” instead of soar. Functioning works fine for survival, but it doesn’t lend to outstanding results.

Focusing on the wrong things to make things right

I just read Sensei Marketing Blog’s latest post by Sam Fiorella, it focused on the rebranding effort an airline is making by repainting all of their planes. My comment on the post was : “Sometimes, leaders when in a state of panic and fear, decide on little things they can control as the big answer to their larger issues.” Although I do not know the intimate details of this airline’s master plan, this was my first thought. It also made me realize this theme has been everywhere the past few days. Hence this article.

On Friday, I was thrilled to be a guest on #OpenSM (a show that covers social media and technology topics – a great Friday afternoon weekly session on Google Plus) with host Sherry Nouraini. The first question she asked was, what do I think is the major challenge holding members of regulated industries back from doing Social, my answer: fear of disclosing information and risking their clients privacy, and therefore their own liability. It’s a product of “stuck in the box thinking” really. You can check out my interview with Sherry here to hear more on this.

Today, I listened to Michelle Price’s radio show #BBSRadio, one of the guests being my friend and someone I greatly admire for his strong business sense and straight talk, Geoff Livingston. He discussed “How Fear Plays in Your Integrated Marketing” , you can listen to the show from the link below, Geoff’s segment is at minute 80. He talked about how many marketers fear FCC violations, legal pursuits, and how the legal team often can put a complete stop on a great campaign and working with these challenges.

He also spoke about the fear of competition: people worried about others taking ideas. His point was that if you spend your time worrying about other people noticing what you are doing, you’re actually hurting yourself because not only will your competition not know about you, but no one will know about you. A great point.

How is Fear Altering Your Behavior – Is It Hindering Your Success?

People are letting their fears lead their actions. It is stopping businesses from growing, it is stopping people from succeeding and it is creating an environment for some – those led by fear of taking that leap, to miss out on possibilities at every turn.

What do you have to lose?

The question I put out there for you is this: If you let yourself be driven by fear, how many opportunities will you miss out on?

How many ideas will you suffocate that could have changed things for the better?

How much is living safely really benefiting you?

All the posts, interviews above came to a question of fear. How many other instances are you seeing where fear is driving your decisions, or the decisions of others? In all the commentary above, the answers are not in ignoring facts, or living in make believe worlds where you ignore your fears, the answers to surpassing the norm really lie in making calculated decisions, having confidence and conviction in your ability and the ability of your staff, knowing the risks and being professional.

You can’t have amazing if you’re covered in fear.

C.C. Chapman covers the assessment of how he looks at new challenges and opportunities in his new book, “Amazing Things Will Happen”. I was really happy to have a conversation with C.C. just last week at #NMX (New Media Expo) and I highly recommend his book if you are struggling with fears that may be altering your success at work, or at home.  It’s not about fears, it’s about leading the life you want, but given the themes of what I have been hearing today, I am going to include this here because I think its time for people to stop being afraid and start embracing the amazing and C.C. came to mind.

I would also recommend Julien Smith’s “The Flinch”, an excellent read, and free download, which I recommended in a previous post here. As well as the extraordinarily inspirational manifesto by AJ Leon.

What do you think, is it time to break out of that barrier of fear?

It’s 2013, a new year, all new opportunity!

Do you see others leading or living by fear?

What’s your take? What will you do this year?

The post When You’re Overrun With Fear. #Leadership #Marketing #Culture and Social Media appeared first on Perspectives.

My friend and Social Media Consultant,  Linda Bernstein came up with a good question on her Facebook status, she wanted to know if people friend people whom they do not know. It’s a great question that many people have varied perspectives on. Some people think of Facebook as a place they are building a community, whereas others keep it simple including only “real life” friends, in some cases, colleagues and co-workers.

Facebook is a very particular social network, and the way one handles it, should be different in strategy as compared to a Google +, Linked In, or Twitter.

Social Strategist and Consultant Gigi Peterkin had a great comment to add to the discussion. You can check her out at http://gigipeterkin.com

Who will you let into your inner circle?

In this post, I am going to focus on the Facebook question as it pertains to individual accounts and not pages.

The first thing I want to clarify here is that Facebook has privacy settings that allow you to keep your information private. Facebook also allows you to hide your existence on Facebook from the public as well. So, let’s start this discussion understanding that Facebook has privacy settings and you are able to create a private environment by using these settings.

With the pending Graph Search, you may also want to consider just how many people you really want to be connected to in your Facebook “private” environment. As I understand it, Graph search will search your friends, and their friends – but

when people are connected to strangers, this is when the implications could be concerning for personal users. For “marketing” and social

business users, this could be viewed as positive and an opportunity to meet more people – so again – your strategy is important when deciding who to friend.

What do I do? My Publicist told me to friend everybody!

Some publicists and PR people recommend authors and other online personalities to friend everyone. I can see how they may find that to be a great idea, however that is coming purely from a sales point of view. I do not believe this advice considers anything other than the objective of reaching the most people possible. Important for it’s success is ones ability to post engaging items and ensuring these items fall in line wih personal brand. From a strategic point of view, if no other marketing and social strategies are in place when you are friending everyone under the sun, then it may serve no purpose at all for you, and in fact it may even hurt you if you aren’t on your game when you’re busy posting away.

Do you sell out your personal Facebook to anyone who wants a piece of you?

First off, in order to be able to answer this question, you need to understand the “non” marketing / networking intent of people’s Facebook accounts.

Facebook users do not sign on to Facebook to advertise themselves. For the most part, the majority of Facebook users are not marketers, authors, social media experts, etc. The majority of people on Facebook, are individuals just living their lives. They look to Facebook to find some comic relief, to connect with other human beings (friends), to look at pictures of their friends and family, to share pictures of their own friends and family, and in general do “private” things. This is why so many people are so concerned with privacy issues, and so many are skeptical of using social sites. They feel their lives are private. It is also why social marketing poses a great challenge to brands and requires creativity in creating content that reaches people. There is a great post about that here.

Is your “privacy” at risk?

For quite some time, many active Facebook users would create multiple accounts, ones for their personal private friends, and other accounts for gaming or other things. Facebook responded to this quite intelligently with some of their more recent site features. Namely:

• “Subscribe” features on personal Facebook accounts
• Facebook Pages

Between the two options above, it allows Facebook users to easily create different content for different kinds of followers. The best part is, it allows users to do this without compromising their own personal information, or intimate details of their lives.

In Social Media, the big thing is “Being Authentic” – some might argue , why not let your fans join you on Facebook? My answer to this would be to allow you to have some kind of privacy in a personal environment.

• Imagine you have a nice party with 30 close friends – the atmosphere will likely be quite free, authentic and comfortable for everyone involved – I would define this as the school of thought to only befriending people you know somewhat and are willing to welcome into your “home” to observe you in your natural setting.
• Now imagine you send a mass email out to everyone you’ve ever met, regardless of whether you had close bonds with them, met them only once in passing, or just saw them at the grocery store. What would you feel like in your home with all those people there? You might feel more pressure to entertain. You might not put out all your most personal photo albums, you might be more careful about what you share, and how you behave. If you just friend anyone who asks you on Facebook, then you need to keep this in mind.

These issues seem to become more important to people with young children. The stage that you are at in your life, will certainly dictate how much of your life you want to share with the general public.

The Flip Side

In addition to what you are allowing others to see of yours, you also need to understand that friending other people who you don’t know so well will flood your personal space with content and information from others. This will take away from your own ability to focus on the people you are interested in seeing and learning about. Just like with the party scenario, have 1000 people over, and you will never have time to speak to them all, or get to know them. You are guaranteed to miss out on many of those conversations. Have your close friends over, the environment is different, conversations involve several people at a time, people whose ideas and thoughts are important to you, people who understand you, and who are in a mutually pleasant situation with you.

You are in control of your Facebook environment. Do as you wish with it, but do not make it a burden.

Finally, Don’t Feel Bad

A lot of people feel bad about things they see in their Facebook. I am sure your must have at some point or other seen a friend post about how they have negative Facebook friends, or are getting drained by the people around them. My answer to that is de-friend them. I know, it’s tough, but really if you allow these kinds of things into your personal environment, it will become very difficult for you to focus on the good things in life.

So what is your answer to all this?

• Do you friend or follow people just because they ask?
• Should you feel bad, or rude if someone you don’t know asks to be your friend on Facebook, and you don’t comply?
• Is it personal if you ask someone to be your friend and they don’t let you in?

Personal “Trust” as an element of the Facebook environment.

On Facebook, the environment on personal accounts is just that: Personal.

If you chose to use it as a marketing tool, then by all means, go ahead. If you don’t want to let people you don’t know into your personal world, then don’t. There is nothing to feel bad about. There are millions of people out there, you can’t be everyone’s friend. Decide what it is you want to be doing on Facebook as an individual, then handle it accordingly.

I for one am very grateful for all my friends on Facebook. All the people who subscribe, all the people who dialogue with me, and especially for those people who let me into their lives by Facebook friending me.

There is not doubt, with every person who I invited into Facebook who I had met before or dialogues with before hand, I have formed deeper and better relationships. For those who I friended, who had not dialogued with me before, but I felt bad into being their friend simply because they asked – nothing came of it. No amazing new dialogue appeared, no deeper learning occurred – the engagement doesn’t come out of nowhere. It comes out of respect, and curiosity, and interest to learn more.

If you don’t have that, maybe Facebook Friends is a little too deep. Relationships have new levels now – I suggest starting at Subscribe. Take it from there, you never know where it will lead you!

The post Social Connections | To Friend or Not To Friend : You had me at Subscribe appeared first on Perspectives.

If you want to know the value of social media and social networking for business, you need to be able to agree that your world is limited. That without social media, you live “in a box” – maybe it’s your box, but a box nonetheless.  Don’t believe me? Keep reading.

You need to understand that to be the best at what you do, you need to be educated and knowledgeable about what is happening in your field, in the world, with your consumers and your competitors. Surely, you agree with me here.

Take a few moments with me right now, in this post I am going to share with you exactly why social is critical to the leaders in your company. Why taking advantage of the opportunities in social media is critical for you. I am not going to discuss the marketing aspect here. What I am talking about here is personal development, innovation and the tools to always stay on top of your game.

Social Tools Enable Excellence

For those of you who do not realize this, I work in financial services. I also work in Social Strategy for Business (you can check out my slide shares here, and youtube videos here). Often people ask me, “What does one thing have to do with the other?”

From my slideshare on employee engagement, Presentation from #Impact99 “Bringing out the best in your company : Social Media in the Workplace”

It’s a valid question, and one that may not seem obvious at first, however I think the answer demonstrates very clearly the value in reaching out and being involved in “The World” vs “Your World”.

When I started in Social Media, I was looking to explore how Social networking could add value to my business. I manage a department of brokers working in Personal Insurance. My responsibilities stretch from HR and hiring, to marketing, customer service and all the procedures and guidelines that go along with running the business. Fortunately in my job, every aspect of business is relevant, not only for me and my business, but for my clients.

I take a lot of pride in being the best at what I do, this is my goal always. Like most directors, I manage myself. In my own organization there are not several of “me” – there are not others who perform my role, or have my knowledge base, nor are there others who I can dialogue with about the various projects, challenges or concepts that I have to deal with. As with any business, you need to stay on top of trends, but you also need to pay attention to the relevant aspects of your company, build your internal strategies, and so much more.

How do you do this when you are your own strongest resource?

Building Bridges

I went to an amazing networking event last night. Organized by Kai Design, Kai recognizes the value in sharing business stories and creating an environment where like minded professionals from all fields can get together and talk about business. It’s not the first time I mention them on my blog, or the information I get inspired by from their events, and I am sure it will not be the last – the reason is because I see the value. A lot of people think that networking is about pushing your business card. About selling your product. What about expanding your mind? What about learning more about what other people are doing, and the challenges they face, how they dealt with them and their success?

What about having the opportunity to talk to others about what you do, and see yourself through the eyes of others as you share ideas, challenges and experiences. Every interaction can provide incredible insight – insight you really would not have otherwise.

It’s about having an engaged mind.

Exposure to community is critical in professional development and success.

People don’t understand why they need to be on social. To be perfectly frank, the marketing aspect is huge, however the food for thought, the dialogue and the professional interactions and community that you can surround yourself with is far more valuable.

1. Reading others blogs

   …you get insight into challenges currently being faced, you are presented with ideas, and opportunities that you would otherwise never encounter. Simply starting in social by reading others blogs is the first step to helping you develop. These ideas will trigger thoughts in you, will push your mind to new levels and will contribute to your success in your own business.

2. Reaching out and commenting on blogs or other posts

   …whether it be Linked In, Facebook or elsewhere. This puts your own ideas out there, and forces you to actually think through things that perhaps in the daily hustle of life and work, you simply never take the time to stop and think about. Writing about thoughts is a commitment to give them time. When you give time to your thoughts, you suddenly have the opportunity to develop them.

3. Realizing that the people (authors) who you are reading are reachable.

   Remember in college, or any time you have read a book, let’s say, when you think, “wow, that’s a really cool concept…I wonder if the author was thinking this, or that…?” Years ago, you were stuck, book in hand with your wonder, or impression – but you couldn’t really do anything with it. Now with Social Networks, you can say “Hey, they are on Twitter…I wonder if I talk to them, they might talk back?” This is HUGE! You can now enter dialogue with people who inspire you and stimulate positive, creative and business changing concepts. Don’t tell me having dialogue with these people doesn’t change your world!

4. When you start reaching out online

   …you not only find the thought leaders who are obvious (like authors, professors, scientists, etc.) But you find access to groups of people who share similar goals, and visions – people who become part of your own community. This is where it all starts to happen.

5. When you start blogging, interacting and expressing yourself

   …others then find you, and your own community grows. You get feedback, ideas start to blossom, and you grow with the help and support of your community. You will also develop confidence, you start to see how what you think plays out in the world around you. This perspective is invaluable.

Although I will write more about this in a later post, I have several communities which I cherish, and am incredibly grateful for being a part of #Usguys, #12Most, #TChat (World of Work), #BlogChat, #Custserv, #BizForum, #HBRChat and the #140Conf (#140MTL), to name a few.

What do we do with all this?

We grow as people. We grow as leaders in our own organizations. We grow as members of the community, and we become capable of giving much more back to our own teams, our real life communities, and ourselves.

Limiting yourself is boring.

To not take advantage of all these resources for growth and community support and inspiration is almost irresponsible. “No man is an island” – ever heard that before? Why on earth would professionals in any field limit themselves and not open the doors to the world for themselves?

I have written this post to help you understand, as professionals you need to be on top of things. You need to learn, grow, evolve. You already knew this, yet so many driven professionals can’t seem to see the value in spending the time to understand social. It’s time to think about it.

Any organization that does not recognize this, and perhaps even insist upon this continuous education of their leaders and team members is at a disadvantage. Not just in marketing, but in business, and in life. Anything you need to know, anything you need to grow in, has online support. All you need to do is start. Jump in somehow, and start finding your community.

In my post on social business, I stated:

“Stay where you are and keep doing what you always did – but keep in mind, some of us out there are pushing ourselves to our limits, setting the bar higher, working every day to keep being the best – and guess what, we are your competition.”

If you truly want to excel in life, at work, in anything – you need to get out there and share ideas, dialogue, listen, and learn.

Social Media is the best way to allow yourself this opportunity – and the best thing is, you do it on your own time, by your own rules, when you want to.

Anything else is truly mediocre…is that who you are?

So, what are you waiting for?

The post The Enagaged Mind: 5 Reasons Every Serious Professional Should Use Social Media for Business appeared first on Perspectives.

If I asked you what the top most important things in blogging are, what would you say?

• Write “interesting content”?
• Be relevant?
• Keep it short?
• Use SEO?

I’ll bet you’ve heard those all before. What if I told you, yes thats important, but that being sharable and creating the easiest ways for people to interact with you and follow you are important factors to building your audience and having an impact?

I recently wrote a post on 12 Most about the top mistakes I see in people’s blogs every day. It’s time for you to check it out and make sure that if you’re blogging, you’re doing all these important steps too!

Here’s hoping this list helps you “Own your blog”.

The post It’s Your Blog – Own it. Beyond The Usual Rules For Blogging Success appeared first on Perspectives.