Category: Communication

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Day 2 post opt

Yesterday was New Year Eve, and our anniversary. I spent the better part of my day in bed, reading tweets, facebook posts, blogs, and bouncing back and forth between several books. All this was accomplished while still taking many cat naps.

I wasn’t shy about answering the many times people asked “how are you feeling.” I watched as people dropped off line for a few hours as parties started, and held conversations with friends online that weren’t out on the town.

I mentioned in a recent post that I was seeking out other stone formers, and that I “Usually asked some questions, but did not make any real sparks.  (People in pain are not real conversationalists.) “

So last night as I was about to ring in the new year, I reached out to several more people who mentioned kidney stones in their tweets. A spark was found.  We exchanged a few comments and questions as we had both had our procedure the same day. She then tweeted me the best new years toast!

@DanaMNelson Toasting rx med w/ u 4 Happy New Year!

 


Thanks Patty for the best NYE toast!

As an update to yesterday’s post when I thought I had failed at my original task of this blog-a-thon, I received this comment:

“You did not fail! I blogged nearly every day and certainly would not have if it hadn’t been for you!”

This was from Mandy Bell Gregory. She has been blogging with us daily. Please check out her blog at:

www.mamasowngreenclean.com

 

 

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Reaching Out to Others vs. Allowing Others to Reach Out to me

As I mentioned yesterday I tried to reach out to others who were suffering in order to offer hope and encouragement.  I didn’t really let me guard down, express the anxiety I was feeling, and talk about what I was going though.

Wednesday night I let my guard down. I privately DMed my pastor @DaleBeaver

 “Please pray for peace/calm, starting to freak out.”  

 He replied within minutes with a Bible verse that was spot on what I needed to hear. I thought maybe others need to hear it too. So I thanked him and tweeted it publicly. As a side note for those who don’t know me: I am a Christ Follower, but I DO NOT post much “churchy” stuff. I hold more to the – practice kindness talk to people and show your love than the preach it method- that is just WHO I am.)

Much to my surprise this sparked several side conversations, and more DMs from other people. So I posted it on Facebook.

“THANK YOU!! To Dale Beaver who sent this to me via Twitter, at a moment of top stress about tomorrow. (I really NEEDED to hear it) Philippians 4:6-7 “

 

 Again, this is WAY out of norm for me.  What I found was more and more outpouring of love compassion and caring.  Many more started telling me stories of things they have endured and things they have suffered. And more than one THANKED me. Thanked me for saying I was scared? This seemed off to me, for them to thank me for posting, I was the one who was getting what I needed to hear not them.

There is a difference

When we drop our guard, and let people see we are hurting, or in need of friendship, we find something more special than we could have imagined.

-we find true and new friends alike.

-we find a deeper understanding of people’s beliefs.

-we find out how highly we are valued as people, not for our work, but for who we are.

-we find that through our suffering we can encourage others to be brave.

Baby Robin

If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching

Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

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Are You Willing?

I was watching a video of Scott Stratten or @unmarketing as you may know him on twitter. He wrote the book “Unmarketing- Stop Marketing and Start Engaging” He is now on a book tour, really going out into the world and not only engaging with his over 66k followers. But he is doing more than that. He is taking a stand. He is like this wild, radical Canadian man on a mission to change the way people market. Why?

 (Hint: cuz what your doing is not working, it is annoying and not making you any money off me cuz I am tired of this BS you try to sell me all the time.)

He is taking a stand because he, as a human being wants what we all want. He wants to be heard, he wants to be paid attention to, and he wants you to treat him with respect and kindness, as you do business with him. He is pointing out some really obvious facts. He is sharing real life stories of how hard it was. (I love the one where he took 30 days and lived twitter. Tweeted 7000 tweets in 30 days. After those 30 days he had 10,000 followers. )

He rants on people not wanting to take the time to put in the work to create 7,000 tweets, who moan that “tweezer” does not work for them. Then he said it. That moment where if you were in a Baptist church you would stand to your feet and proclaim AMEN! He said:

Social media does not change the fact that relationships take time!

I said yes! When I teach classes people always ask me “how much time…” I hate that question. At first I assumed that it was because I was in denial about my addiction, and just did not like being called out on it. Then I started answering in a very professional way: “That’s not a fair question.” I followed it with- but this is what I do.

 When Scott said that “Social media does not change the fact that relationships take time!” I realized it. I do take a lot of time to build relationships online. I do still play responsibly and work hard to get my offline responsibilities done. –I may work harder and longer, but I just do it, because to me, to my business, the time is well spent.

So if you are not seeing results by auto scheduling your tweets, or running a great promotion, or give away, if you’re still focusing on the media of the term Social Media- forget the push!

Try to find ways to really connect. Listen *Comment* Help* Show you care. The time you spend caring about the people will be time well spent that will change you.

 Social media does not change the fact that relationships take time!

Are you willing to take the time to make this relationship work?

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Follow a Leader

A year ago today my friend and Tweep Saundra Hadley lost her father. She turned to twitter as a way to express her grief. What she found in return was compassion.

She found that this “social media” was so much more than a broadcast channel. She was able to connect with real people in real time that were showing her compassion and caring, in her time of need. Here is her interview with Josh Breslow: 

When I met her she was using it not only to stay connected with people who reached out to her, but has also found it a great way to do business.

She told me that it was the best peer- to peer networking that she has ever found. 

 Saundra, or @planningforever is the #1 twitter user in Evansville. She has a wide variety of topics that she posts –it is not all business. She is real, honest and funny.  

So today on this #FollowFriday, I am not asking you to just follow her, I am asking a lot more:

  1. Follow @planning forever (No really add her to your twitter stream, but follow how she acts, watch how she engages, see how she uses it and follow her lead.)
  2. Reach out to her. One year ago she turned to twitter, twitter people give her some <3 today!
  3. Really listen to the people in your stream, reach out to someone else today who needs your encouragement.
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Ditch the Traditional Media?

Traditional media has definitely taken a turn in a different direction. More and more people are using online resources instead of looking to traditional media for everything in their lives from news to entertainment. So does that mean companies should ditch traditional media altogether?

Scott Wise owner and CEO of Scotty’s Brewhouse did just that:

 “A year and a half ago, when the economy crashed, we were looking for ways to cut costs without laying employees off. At the same time social media was really taking off, so we eliminated every single piece of outside advertising, no print, no radio, no other types of traditional media, and shifted our focus to e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. In the past, we would spend about $250,000 each year in football ads, newspaper, and radio during Christmas time to promote gift cards. We eliminated all of that.”

But is this what’s right for you? Social media is not about a broadcast message. It’s about listening. It’s about communicating with your customers. Scotty does that very well. He mentions in his guest blog post on the Chamber INsider that he does not utilize a secondary company or ghost blogger to do social media for him. It’s really him. After all, you and your employees know your company and brand the best. Why would your customer want to put a comment card in your comment box that a subcontractor is going to read? How would they know that the awesome employee they were praising or the defective widget they were complaining about would get the message?

 Scotty has found a way to utilize social media in several very effective ways.  In addition to using it to broadcast his message about specials and what’s going on in his store, he also uses it to communicate and listen to customers, both good and bad.  Then he takes the bad and makes the necessary changes to make them right (and does it right now!). He’s really listening. He uses it for market research and to vent. It’s really Scotty.

 With that said, I do not believe traditional media is totally dead. Combined with a well-designed social media plan, it can make a large impact on the value of your business.  If you are considering re-allocating your advertising budget, and spending less on traditional media, the phonebook could be the first item to go. Replace the phonebook costs with social media training, updated graphics and logos, and better signage on your brick-and-mortar. Put your advertising and branding where your customer’s eyes are looking, and leave no stone unturned.

 Some of the hottest forms of advertising and corporate branding are vehicle graphics and wraps. If you are going with more new media advertising and want to find a way to get the word out, why not put it on all your delivery vehicles “follow me” and your twitter handle or Facebook URL? Find a way to combine new and old.  

But don’t treat new media like traditional media…  if you do, you will fail.

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Building Brand Advocates

This article is featured in this month’s Evansville Business Journal.

How does a company build its presence on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedln? What are your customers most interested in: what you say about your company or what your friends and their friends say? Kyle Lacy, author of “Twitter Marketing for Dummies,” often says, “I don’t care about your clients.  I care about their friends:’

How do you find and empower brand advocates? Start from within. Your best and most loyal brand advocates are sitting across the cubicle from you. Stand up look over the cubicle wall and say “Hello” to your next brand advocate. Wait, she’s not in sales! He’s not part of the management team! He doesn’t deal directly with customers! However, who are his friends? Or her friends’ friends?

Companies across the nation are scrambling to find and create ways for their brand advocates to show themselves and endorse their brand or product. The companies that do it best start from within. They don’t hire a single person to do all their social media. It is a team effort, built with a strong foundation in goals and strategic planning. Part of that foundation is relying upon the very men and women who make up the work force of the company to tell the story like it is. Today’s customers can spot a smooth campaign. They will trust an authentic voice – from you and your employees. Customers appreciate real engagement, with real people, in real companies.

Your employees are your biggest brand advocates. When you remind them that you believe in them, they will want to tell others they believe in you. Not only that, your employees will be more loyal and dedicated to you, their work and your company.

Put goals, policy and strategy in place before implementing any social media programs. Thorough training is essential for everyone involved so all will advocate well. After these tasks are complete, you start the process of building your advocate base.

Empower advocates from within your company ranks for your social media. The stronger relationships you build with your employees and your customers will position you to engage in the 21 st century. Oh, and it will build your bottom line sales numbers, too. EBJ

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A Community Comes Together

This year, the farmers market, downtown received quite a bit of social media chatter early on in the year for having a larger variety of vendors.

Last month, one of those vendors was asked to leave based on the product that they sold.  The reasons that they were asked to leave in many people’s eyes were not valid reasons based out of perhaps ignorance for the products.

The owner, who had established a local e-mail database, sent out a notice regarding their situation, ending it with a call to action asking GAGE to do something about it. 

That chatter quickly changed and suddenly the downtown farmers market exploded all over social media. I saw several blogs regarding the situation. One in particular was written by a newcomer to Evansville who utilizes her blog, twitter and Facebook very effectively. Through the power of social media, the particulars surrounding the circumstance of this farm being removed from the farmers market became known to a large number of people. Those people started talking, and spread that news very rapidly.  (See her blog here – With updates)

This news struck a chord of emotion with those people who frequent the farm, with those people who appreciated the product, and with people who’d never even been there; based on principle.

My point is this: a well-written blog, circulated amongst the followers of that blog, that is also 

promoted across multiple platforms (a link to it was place on twitter and Facebook) can have an extraordinary impact on a community.

Community can mean:

  • a small micro area such as your downtown area
  • a certaingroup of people like environmentalists
  • people who are traditionally stereotyped
  • the planet we live on and ourselves as a whole race

 

No matter the size or scope of your community

 you have the ability to change it.

 

I remember thinking when I was growing up:

“How can I change the world?”

Thanks to the power of blogs, cross-platform social media, and our tendency as humans to truly want to help one another, a single person with a small physical voice can translate that voice to words   and change the world. YOU have the power, you can change it.

So tell me, how are you going to change the world?

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First Impressions – Changes in FB Policy, Again

Yesterday, Facebook abruptly changed its Facebook fan page policy. In summary, you will not be able to have a custom landing tab for your fan page, unless you have 10k fans or the page administrator works with their ads, account manager. If you suspect that that means you will have to pay to have a custom landing page if you have less than 10,000 followers, you are probably correct.

This change was announced, quietly by Facebook with an apology that no mention was made of it sooner. If you do not already have an ads account representative, you can submit a form which looks like this:

 
 

Notice the budget amounts listed. It does appear that Facebook is looking to monetize the growing trend of businesses using fan pages.

A lot of people are really upset about this change, in particular Twitter chatter and blogs from businesses that sell the service of making customized Facebook tabs.  My perspective is different.

When asked, I would provide custom landing pages.  However, it is not my sole business model.  I did not actively promote custom landing pages as a way to gain fans.

So I am responding, not out of fear for the future of my business, and not out of the stress of dealing with past clients who may now be upset.

Personally, I’m not really upset by this change. Actually, I’m still very grateful for Facebook and what it has done to change the way that we as businesses communicate with our peers, our vendors and our clients. That has not changed.

If you have strong, engaging content on a regular basis, that shows people that you are listening, are responding, and that you care. Your business page will then get you more fans overall than a flashy well-done graphic that you paid a lot of money for people to see as their first impression.

So to you, small businesses, medium businesses, and large companies that are new to Facebook., not yet at your 10k mark: Remember that every post you make is potentially now a first impression.

Make sure you approach your Facebook strategy with this in mind. 

Hint: if you post content that is informative, educational and engaging, people will willingly share this information on their own . They will be a brand advocate for you as they share your content on their pages.

Which is your ultimate goal: to have the most fans? Or is it to have the most fans who love and are actively involved in sharing your content?

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Off the Wall

Because I use my social media for business, I have certain subjects that are considered “off-the-wall topics.” One of those subjects is health. I typically don’t post information about my health concerns or anything going on regarding the health of people in my family, other than the occasional headache or cold.

 At the end of last week, near the end of my day, and completely at the end of my rope, a wall in my house assaulted me. Very frustrated, and in pain,. I posted on my Facebook and twitter accounts. I was pretty sure I broke my foot. I put ice on it and went to bed. I received a call at midnight. When I checked my account, I was floored at the number of people who were concerned about my poor little foot. It’s a big deal, but it’s not a big deal. It was a big deal that people cared.

 Ever notice what happens with Facebook on your birthday? There is always a tremendous outpouring, because it is an easy and quick way to show people that you care, even if you forgot till that day. If you use social media for business, Facebook and Twitter are great resources for getting the inside information and personal details.  This helps you to show your compassionate side for your clients and vendors.  Several of the people that commented on my foot are people that I do business with on a regular basis.

They are listening to what I say. They care. This makes me more likely to be a brand advocate for them.

 Take the time to read some posts and comment on the good and the bad going on in the lives of the people that you’ve met. Use social media as a communication tool and stay connected.

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Valiant Defined…

debbieV

Wife of one
Mother of three
Grandmother of seven
She is:
• caring by nature– after all, she has a degree in nursing
• a business owner
• a good neighbor
• a caregiver
• a protector
• a friend  to many

This woman is many things to many people.  As I have become acquainted with her over the last few months, I feel like I’ve known her my whole life. She’s often appeared with a plate of cookies to make me feel better.  I have watched her life unfold and I am amazed at the extent to which she’s involved in, actively giving and outreaching to the community, personally and professionally.

She is a caring neighbor, weekly driving her elderly neighbor to the hairdresser, the grocery store and other places she needs to go.

She is a caring sister to her brother who is experiencing severe health challenges.

At the end of the day, she should be utterly exhausted.

However, from her social media posts and in talking to her, you would never know it. She is happy for the opportunity to care for new grandchildren. She is happy to be entertaining family on a Sunday. She is happy to drive that elderly neighbor to the salon. Her medical background helps her to act as her brother’s champion. She’s glad to go to work. She treats her employees as family, honors them and lifts them up verbally and in writing. Most importantly, she does this publicly on social media.

She could so easily think,  “pity me; look at all have to do; look at all of my burdens”. But she doesn’t see it that way. She doesn’t dread work, because she truly loves the people with whom she works, and this shows.

Valiant, is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, as “strong, courageous, to be of worth, marked by or carried out with courage or determination.”

That pretty much describes this woman, my friend, Debbie Valiant.

Debbie and her Husband Walter own AmeriStamp SignARama. They were given the Integrity Torch Award from the Better Business Bureau and are  finalists for the 2010 Small Business of the Year Award  From The Evansville Chamber.