Tag Archives: Online Communities
Cultures of Success:Your Job Is to Make Me Look Good | A Two Way Street
“Your job is to make me look good.”
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.
5 Ways to Use Video for Employee Engagement
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.
Breaking Down Social Media : Finding a Soul in Brands
The term social media is largely misused and misunderstood.
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
Changing The Buzz Words in Social Business: “The Impact Equation” Delivers #ImpactEQ
The Impact Equation by New York Times bestselling authors Chris Brogan & Julien Smith is set for release on October 25th. I was thrilled to get an advance copy for review and am so honored to be able to share my experience in reading it with you here.
First things first, a little Q&A on who should read this book. In case you’re wondering if this book has something in it for you.
Q1: I’m just a business person, not a social media expert, is this book right for me?
A: Yes. It’s perfect for you. No social media mumbo-jumbo here. Just practical, real life information that you can understand and apply to your life and business right away.
Q2: I’m in the field, I’m already a “social media expert”, why would I read this?
Ideas: Quizzing Your Way to Support – #NonProfit Strategy Built on Engagement #hungertohope
World Food Day was proclaimed in 1979 by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The aim of the Day is to heighten public awareness of the world food problem and strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. – UN
I’ve been working on raising awareness for nonprofit groups on how to use social media for engagement over the past month via various speaking engagements and blog posts. When I heard about what The World Food Programme was doing in their strategy, I was impressed. The World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger. They recognize the importance of reaching new communities and finding new friends to engage and support their mission and cause. The recently used a partnership with Zinga and got the Farmville community to support their efforts, with tremendous success.
What did Facebook games have to do with world hunger? The Farmville Community is a highly engaged community. By identifying the common interests and using the opportunity to partner for social good, this organization benefited greatly, and got to raise awareness in a new community they would not have ordinarily have reached.
What’s really nice about their campaigns is that their focus is not just on the fundraising part, it’s about really reaching out and sharing stories. One of their campaigns features Molly, they tell her story not to raise funds but to create an environment where they can engage people in communities worldwide to understand the work they are doing and make new friends to help support their efforts. One of the cool interactive features of their site is a quiz that helps participants gain a deeper understanding of the cause.
What is really interesting is that when you take their quiz, this action supports the cause! What a great idea! It’s not about taking your money, it’s about awareness and generating reward from enagagement.
In the video below, Bettina Luescher of the World Food Programme, is interviewed by John Haydon. She explains some of their campaigns and outreach strategies, including one campaign where they partnered with the actors from ” The Hunger Games”.
Coming up with creative ideas and partnerships provides great benefits! You reach new audiences and build energy around your cause. This energy creates interesting opportunities to build real relationships with followers or friends, rather than just placing organizations in positions where they beg for attention.
Two Partners supporting World Hunger Day.
To succeed in any campaign, you can’t just rely on the individuals in a community, you have to get the help from sponsors as well. I am thrilled to be participating and promoting the efforts of Razoo and Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company in support of the World Food Programme World Hunger Day this year. Yum! Brands’ annual World Hunger Relief campaign is the world’s largest private sector hunger relief effort.
You Can Help Too!
Please join us on World Hunger Day this October 16th, check out Geoff Livingston’s post for all the campaign details, or send out this tweet. It doesn’t cost you anything to raise awareness, and it makes such a difference! Please take a moment to click.
A Little Extra:
Just One Day Can Make A Difference!
Want to know what a day of giving can look like visually? Check out what Razoo put together in the video below!
A visualization of GiveMN 2011, showing how Razoo and GiveMN raised more than $14M total in a 24-hour Giving Day.
There are a lot of creative efforts and people joining to make World Hunger Day a success, if all you have to do to make a difference is mark it on your calendar, send out a few tweets, and maybe take a quiz, isn’t it worth it?
“The philanthropic goal encourages people to participate in small acts like a social share or a $10 or $25 donation. These small acts do make a big difference. To give you an idea of how that plays out here:
- – Just $10 feeds children.
- – Just $25 feeds a child in need during school for a half year.” - Geoff Livingston
I hope you will join us on October 16th and be a part of some social media good in action!
For more information you can check out the blogger kit here. You can make a difference just with a few clicks! Thank you!!
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Aviva Empowers Communities for a 4th Year Starting Today @AvivaCF #BeTheChange
The Aviva Community Fund Launches this week for it’s 4th consecutive year. This social media based contest puts the power into the hands of the communities around them to have a vote and make positive change possible with much needed funding. The Fund has given away millions of dollars to grass roots organizations and individuals who have come up with ideas to make positive change in their communities. You can check out previous winners here.
“I wanted to make a difference in my community for all children with disabilities, so how could I pass on the opportunity to enter the Aviva Community Fund?” said Kelly Meissner, idea generator behind 2011 Aviva Community Fund Winner Kate’s Kause. After winning $60,000 Kate’s Kause was able to build a fully accessible playground for the entire Elmira, Ontario community to use.
Starting today, Canadians can go to AvivaCommunityFund.org to submit ideas that will have a positive effect on their local community. After rallying support from friends, family, neighbours and co-workers, the most popular ideas will have a chance to be funded with the $1,000,000 Aviva Community Fund.
In the competition’s first three years, Canadians overwhelmingly answered the call proposing over 6,000 ideas and casting more than six million votes in support of causes from every province and territory.
Speaking about Change
I am really honored to be Aviva’s Quebec Speaker at the Community Fund Launch, where I where I will be highlighting some of the amazing opportunities this project gives business people and individuals to really get involved in supporting their communities.
Not only does Aviva give an opportunity to communities to grow and receive support for their positive change ideas, they also give their brokers an opportunity to support the projects in their areas. A great way for an insurance company to give back on many levels.
This competition not only uses social media to help spread the word, and allow people everywhere to support these local organizations, but it also creates a pattern of engagement that extends far beyond the contest itself. I wrote about this last year on 12 Most, and I invite you to continue reading below to learn about the 12 Most Ways Aviva Community Fund Excels at Community Giving.
You can also check out the ideas starting to appear here, and remember it doesn’t cost you anything to support a cause, just a click of support every day to help your favorite cause make it through to round two!
12 Most Charitable Ways @AvivaCF Excels in Community Giving
by Mila Araujo
What if I told you I had a million dollars to give away, and all you had to do to get part of it was to send me your request and if you could get your friends to support you, I’d hand it out? What would you do?
Well the Aviva Community Fund is doing just that, but they aren’t throwing it at you directly, they are giving it to your community so that not only you benefit, but your whole area can share the wealth, improve your life, your family’s and everyone around you.
What really sets this social good project aside from the rest is that it is not just a giveaway, its a competition. A competition that touches every single area of community in a positive way, and all anyone has to do to make it happen is embrace the idea of community. The true idea of working together and seeing the results of teamwork for social good.
Here are the 12 Most ways that @AvivaCF Excels in Community Giving
1. Its about getting what you need
Want a million dollars? Well you can’t get it yourself. You need your friends, your family, your community to get involved. Doing this instantly creates positive energy in your group. In today’s world we are often too busy to talk to each other, to take the time out to stop and connect with those around us.
Social Media Timing is Everything: Understanding Automation’s Role in Community Engagement
Robot (Photo credit: ewen and donabel)
Are You a Robot?
We have heard a lot of talk lately about the risks of automation in social media. Many people seem to believe that automating tweets, or posts work against social media best practices. In particular, genuine communication.
I think that the key to assessing this is in knowing the objective of your social media activities. In addition, the role that your social accounts are playing for the community they serve.
Manpower is a huge issue in this as well. Do you have a community manager who is dedicated to only running social media, or do you have social media as a “part” of the person’s role?
Automation used right doesn’t mean “impersonal”
There are positive ways that automation can be used which also respect and maintain the human touch. Here are some examples:
1. Scheduling Updates that contain photos, videos or your own posts to strategically appropriate times on both Facebook and Twitter
This content should be generally in line with your objectives, and the message you want to share within your community. There is no reason not to schedule these things. It allows you to be consistent. A huge factor in establishing a strong social media presence.
2. Scheduling distribution of articles via Twitter or Facebook so that the proper exposure is attained on peak hours in multiple time zones.
3. Automation responds to various needs and can help teams work together
Automation lends a Helping Hand in Time Management
Where “Automation Is Anti-Social” – What Not to Do.
It’s all about Balance
- Time for Blogging or other content creation
- Time for broadcasting the content
- Time for dialog and interaction based on the content & Identifying Opportunities for engagement elsewhere (ex: Social Search) <;- The most important aspects
- Time for analysis of interaction and results
The Appropriate Use of Automation
Automation does not Equal Auto-Pilot
- What is the acceptable delay to respond to comments on Facebook, Twitter, Your Blog?
- This will depend on the nature of your business, and the role your sites play.
- Itemize the type of content your organization is willing to automate.
- Example, blog posts, photos, videos, status updates, Direct Messages. Make sure to answer the question for yourself, what value does automating the selected items give your public, and your company. What are the potential risks?
- Ensure that there is a regular check point to follow through on these automated posts.
- Will it be every day, every hour? Set an expectation so you don’t lose yourself in the automated process. You want to respect the whole reason you are using automation – to stay connected. Leaving it on Auto-Pilot is not acceptable, and in theory does not meet the reasons you are doing it in the first place!
Providing Value
Do you use automation to expand your capabilities in social, or were you thinking it could just put your activities on auto- pilot while you head out to the beach?
What do you think?
Do you have any tips to add?
Fast Track Marketing: QR Code Driving Fans Closer |Strategy|Engagement
QR Codes are a tough sell in social media circles. Despite this, the average consumer surely sees multiple codes a day scattered on business cards, ads on walls, magazines, newspapers, billboards, TV ads, and even restaurant menus. In recent research from ScanLife, a popular QR Scanning App, the data not only shows consumers scanning when they are on the go, but even when they are at home! If that doesn’t indicate increasing comfort with the convenience of the QR method of communication, I am not sure what does.
Why do so many oppose them in the social marketing field? The QR code may seem “boring” to a graphic artist, or annoying to a social marketer, but to the average consumer armed with a smart phone and a scan app, I’d go as far as say it can be magical. You never know what lies behind the code until you see it.
Go ahead, scan me 
~Wasn’t that fun?
The State of Mobile
According to Cisco‘s Mobile Forecast Highlights, in North America, the number of smartphones grew 58% during 2011, reaching 138 million in number. They further predict, in their VNI Mobile Forecast Highlights, 2011 – 2016 that in North America, the number of smartphones will grow 1.8-fold between 2011 and 2016, reaching 253 million. Why is the potential application of QR coding important? Look at it as your added opportunity to entice the mobile user, to connect somewhere that everyone is becoming increasingly more comfortable.
According to a recent Scanlife report in the second quarter of 2012, the company’s QR codes got 16 million scans, almost 10 million more than what it saw in the second quarter of 2011. in addition the rate of scans per minute Scanlife is seeing has increased by 5 times compared to the same time last year. You can check out a pretty awesome infographic here.
Why Aren’t You Seizing The Opportunity?
QR Codes are one of the easiest ways for consumers to easily respond to an ad, and get the information they are looking for. They allow the
Seduced by the numbers? The Honeymoon is Over.The Value of a Facebook Like {Casestudy}
The biggest challenge faced by social media professionals entering an organization who is at the onset of social media integration will be confronting the popular misconception that “likes” on Facebook & followers on Twitter is the measure of social media success.
When social media first started to gain attention as a new business opportunity, it stands to reason that in absence of true measurement tools, the only number a business or organization could understand easily, and “measure” would be the number of followers, or fans.
Many organizations, due to lack of familiarity or understanding of social, are convinced that there is success in the numbers; that “likes” or followers equal reach, and that if they attain high subscription – whether it be on Twitter, Google Plus, or Facebook – that this will equal success.
The Wrong Numbers.
Social business is still in the early stages, as new technology and strategy intertwine to find stronger measures of success on various levels –
7 Days to Breaking the Barrier To Blogging
Whether you are a social media professional, or a business person working on understanding social media, blogging is a key area that needs to be worked into your strategy.
Not Another Blogging Post
This post isn’t about the benefits blogging will bring when you incorporate SEO. This post isn’t about the fact that by blogging intelligently in your field, you can establish authority and build your reputation on a larger scale than just in your limited social circle (IRL). This post isn’t even going to touch on blogging best practices, content length, the importance of pictures or any of that. This post is addressing the very basics: How do you start to blog when you have no idea where to begin? How do you help push to break the barrier stopping you from blogging?
