14 Feb

F-bombs and Negativity – How People Really Feel About It

By Lisa In Articles, Blog, Featured, Featured, Leadership, Networking, Social Media, The Social Business Academy / 8 Comments

Can negativity and profanity have a financial impact on your business?

I think it can, and in a big way.

Don’t think I’m just tossing out blame or judgement about profanity. I am guilty myself. In real life I use the occasional four-letter word and sometimes complain about silly things.

Online however, I choose not to use language that is inappropriate and I am very conscious of making my presence positive and upbeat.

Maybe it is because in my life I have worked with some really negative people who drained my energy and I never want to subject others to that.

I recently asked business owners on my Facebook page how they feel about the use of negativity and profanity and the responses were overwhelmingly the same.

Don’t do it.

Most people will take deliberate action to keep you out of sight. They will either hide your updates in their newsfeed or they will block/unfriend you.

I am all for being authentic. I believe that each person has a right to do what they want with their social media profiles.

How you present yourself is your choice.

But, please remember that we now live in a world where your online behavior impacts your professional “real” life in a very real way.

Whether you own a business, work for a company or are unemployed and looking for a job, every update you make leaves an impression and each impression allows others to form an opinion of the type of person you are. This is fact.

Recently, Sandra Yancey, Founder and CEO of eWomenNetwork, posed the same type of question on Facebook. Ninety-one comments later, the consensus was pretty much the same.

The interesting thing was, shortly after, another woman I know who will remain nameless posted the f-bomb several times on her Facebook status and implied someone was complaining about profanity. She basically said “if you don’t like it, un-friend me.”

As I said earlier, how you present yourself on social media is your choice. But keep in mind that how others perceive you is also your choice. You have the right to post whatever you want but constant complaints about life, throwing around f-bombs and just general unprofessionalism will ensure that other people are not rallying around to support you and your business.

In the words of Nicki Minaj “Just give us one minute of professionalism.”

Agree or disagree in the comments below. How do you feel about profanity and negativity on social media?

05 Nov

Shop Talk – Your Company’s Social Media Policy

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Easy User Tips for Social Media, Fav, Featured, Featured, Human Resources, Leadership, Marketing, Shop Talk, Social Media / No Comments

The stats are in and I think you may want to know the startling truth about the number of companies who have a Social Media Policy.

Most organizations have all kinds of documentation on expectations, culture, service, policies and procedures in place to set their team up for success.

What about when it comes to how employees represent your business online. Have you thought about that yet?

2013 is just around the corner: watch this video and add this to your priority list if you haven’t done so already. I’ve done this work with with my clients — it’s time for you to do it for your team.

30 Oct

Retailers Still Don’t Get Social Media

By Lisa In Articles, Blog, Business, Featured, Featured, Leadership, Marketing, Social Media / 3 Comments

This week Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the Eastern United States with lives lost and an estimate of hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Social Media once again proved to be a incredible tool for people to stay connected, organize evacuation strategies and share their experiences (even if there were some fake hurricane pictures shared on Facebook).

The fallout began when Retailers thought they could capitalize on the Twitter hashtag conversations and take advantage of the traffic online talking about the tragedy. I say “traffic” deliberately because it is clear that the retail philosophy was about traffic and driving sales, versus a sensitivity around people and what they were experiencing.

What this demonstrated to me is once again Retailers fail to understand the culture of the Social Media Community.

Social Media is about people and there is tremendous sensitivity towards other people when something terrible is happening – anywhere in the world.

Last year Kenneth Cole made the list of the Top Internet Scandals of 2011 when they tweeted about their new collection using the #Cairo hashtag.

This tweet caused outrage on Twitter causing Kenneth Cole to make a very public apology and many thought this was the tweet that other Retailers would learn from.

Apparently not.

Today in the wake of tragedy and destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy we saw other examples of misguided Retailers. I say misguided because I do not believe they intended to be so offensive – rather they fail to understand the culture of a community where communication is a two way street and behavior is called out by people quickly and fearlessly. This is not your 1980’s consumer who has no way to express their dissatisfaction with you.

American Apparel probably made the most tasteless sales pitch of them all when they decided to have a hurricane sale. They were quickly outed by Mashable for their lack of sensitivity and the flurry of responses they had caused.

And it continued when the Gap also made an attempt to redirect perceived lost sales caused by stores closures to their website. They were quickly called out by Scott Stratten, best selling author and Social Media expert best known on Twitter as Unmarketing for his strong beliefs that we should stop marketing, and start engaging.

Instead of taking their lumps and acknowledging they had behaved inappropriately, the Gap decided to rationalize their tweet and followed up by posting this:

I wish I could say that was the end of it but it was not.

Presidents Choice also committed a faux pas when they tweeted this (also picked up by @unmarketing and I am guessing may be one of many stories featured in his next book)

On a positive note – Presidents Choice did what ANY Retailer and or business person should do when they make this type of mistake. They owned it and they apologized.

The magic of this is that for the most part, the community is almost as quick to forgive as they are to call you out. We all get social media is still relatively new, and that people make mistakes. The very big difference is your mistakes are public and when you hide from them, or try and rationalize them – you make the situation worse.

Retailers really need to learn how to be human when it comes to engaging with other humans on Social Media.

None of us are perfect but it helps if you start with a conscience and ask yourself “Does if feel right to say this? Morally and ethically?”

I have been a retailer most of my life. I get wanting to drive sales and traffic – but not at the expense of your brand. Remember – brand is NOT your logo, brand is how your customers feel about you, the perceptions they have from all their experiences and interactions with you. Do you really want to damage that?

Social Media is one of the best ways I know for Retailers to connect with their customers, and at the same time, completely trip up the reputation they have worked so hard to create.

Don’t delegate your reputation to someone who doesn’t understand the value of talking to your audience. It’s far too important to be taken lightly and it is time for Retailers to realize that.

29 Oct

Shop Talk – Why Silo Marketing is Not a Good Business Practice

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Client Experience, Entrepreneur, Fav, Featured, Featured, Leadership, Marketing, Networking, Shop Talk, Social Media, Video / 5 Comments

This Silo Marketing has got to stop — it’s becoming an epidemic.

Facebook is not a strategy and neither is Twitter. Marketing should be part of your Business Strategy and should include how you engage, serve and interact with your customers.

You have many channels by which your customers interact with you on a daily basis and figuring out how to integrate all of them into an exceptional experience should keep you awake at night.

“Spray and pray” marketing is a thing of the past. Today’s smart business owners understand the need to look at the big picture and serve their customers well no matter the channel they choose to interact with.

We are all busy though and with busyness comes forgetfulness.

Having a Facebook and Twitter account does not excuse you from answering the phone when your customer calls.

And having a Facebook page that you never check is not helping you create better relationships with your customers either.

It all has to work together or your efforts will not pay off. How are you making it ALL work?

22 Aug

Are You Creating Community or an Audience through Social Media?

By Lisa In Articles, Blog, Business, Easy User Tips for Social Media, Entrepreneur, Fav, Featured, Featured, Leadership, Marketing, Networking, Social Media, The Social Business Academy / No Comments

When you get started using Social Media you will begin the exact same way as everyone else.

You focus on establishing your presence.

Most people do this by setting up their profile, filling out all the information about themselves, uploading a fancy photo, connecting with some people we know in real life and then learning all about the navigation or how things work.

This phase can be overwhelming or exciting depending on how easily you embrace technology. Regardless, your habits are all pretty much the same as everyone else when you get started.

After a bit the “comparison breeds misery” bug will set in. I am sure you can relate to what I am about to say: this is that phase where you start to compare with other people about how many friends, followers and connections you have. You start to notice how many people are interacting with others versus interacting with you.

You develop a heightened sense of awareness of how others are using Social Media for their business and suddenly you become acutely aware of your need to build an audience.

An audience is simply that — an audience. Your first step will be to collect some new friends, try some new approaches to getting people to comment on your posts. You will start to really hunt for people you know, and you might even try to connect with people you don’t know just to get your numbers to a certain level. You might even obsessively check to see how many people are commenting and liking your posts and steal the odd idea from a competitor.

This is the stage when you start to talk at your audience and you forget that they are people. People with feelings, thoughts, opinions and ideas of their own — just like you.

At some point (hopefully) this audience building phase will start to feel empty and not very rewarding. Counting friends can only stimulate you for so long!

Once this happens you will move into Community Building.

Community Building is by far the best thing you can do when it comes to Social Media.

You move from a place of comparison to a place of comfort. You realize that it is quality, not quantity that matters.

You realize relationships and connections are more important than the size of your audience.

Your orientation moves from trying to get comments and likes to really wanting to offer value for others and to stimulate real conversation.

This is when the magic happens.

This is when you no longer have to sell what you do because people who are part of your community who know, like and trust you will naturally self select your product or service when it makes sense.

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone skipped the audience phase? None of us like to be talked “at”, and we certainly don’t like to be manipulated for a comment or a like!

This week ask yourself: who are you trying to serve when it comes to the people you are connected to on Social Media? What can you do to be a better community leader who can help others?

If you step back and take a careful look at your habits I am sure you will see ways to build stronger community. I’d love to hear some of your ideas on how to best do this.

One great example of community building for me was the Ultimate Kindness Project. We have raised over $12,000 to help one woman and her son. That is the strength and power of a community that cares and comes together.

It started with Rebecca Happy who noticed me asking for digital product donations to support this cause. She reached out with the idea for Chris Lang and I to collaborate on a full day event and we made that happen.

Then Roger and Sarah from Living at One reached out and offered to support the initiative by offering up their venue for us to use. The very same day, reaching out to their community, Roger and Sarah secured two TV spots for us to talk about our project.

Next, Chris Lang is turned away at the border and cannot get into the country for the event and Roger steps up and offers to help out.

Together we market the event and almost instantly ten people sign up and more continue to do so each day. All to support a community cause.

Doesn’t this just feel way better than having an audience?

Audience = one way communication. You listen, I talk.

Community = two way communication. We talk, we listen, we support.

Which do you prefer?

08 Aug

Bring Your Inner Leader to Social Media

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Client Experience, Easy User Tips for Social Media, Entrepreneur, Fav, Featured, Featured, Human Resources, Leadership, Social Media, The Social Business Academy / 2 Comments

I recently had a conversation with a client of mine about Social Media and what it meant to build an online platform and we got to discussing the role of a leader. It occurred to me that most of us do not think of ourselves in term of leadership when it comes to social media.

We get caught up in the day-to-day tactics, and if we are entrepreneurs, the last thing to cross our radar is that our leadership skills are out there in public view for the world to see when it comes to Social Media.

When you work for a corporation all you hear about are leadership skills. It is your leadership skills that have a direct impact on the results of the organization.

You lead people. People take inspired action. Action generates results.

In the absence of leadership most people do not do what they are really capable of. That is why so many people suffer from time management challenges — it’s really not a time management issue, it’s a self-management issue, and well that my friends is our ability to lead ourselves.

Now let’s talk about Social Media.

You have an opportunity to lead a group of people in the Social space, in your industry yet most of the time people are more concerned with the tactics of how to get it all done and have not taken the time to think about how their leadership translates through what they are doing.

When I think of leadership, I think of values, character, integrity, passion and an ability to inspire and move others. What do you think of?

When I think of those things and I ask myself, am I acting in my highest self when it comes to how I demonstrate leadership through Social Media the answer is no.

I don’t think I am the worst leader out there but I also don’t think I have been conscious enough about how I want to be perceived in that role.

This is new territory for many of us and unlike the corporate world — you are never going to be crowned “Leader” on Social Media. It is a position you have to assume, it is a skill you have to demonstrate and the measurement of success will be seen by the influence and goodwill you build through your community.

This week I want you to ask yourself two questions:

1. How do I want to be perceived as a leader when it comes to my behavior on Social Media?
2. What is one thing I can do differently to “up my game” online?

For me, owning my leadership is an important part of taking action. I know that leaders are human, they make mistakes and they can be pretty incredible human beings. I have been blessed to work with some incredible leaders in my life and I have decided to “own my role” when it comes to leadership online.

There is no application process, there is no hiring committee. Anyone can apply for the job and can do a great job of leading their audience, adding value, demonstrating integrity and walking their talk.

I am putting a stake in the ground and choosing to approach all that I do from a leadership paradigm from now on and to be honest — yes it feels a bit scary to write this down and state it so publicly. What if I mess up? What if people criticize me? What if they compare me to others?

Isn’t that what happens anytime we are about to embark on something great? Fear creeps in and tries to stop us. Well I say forget fear, let’s do it anyway. I really wanted to say something else but my new leader requires me to use nicer language 😉

Here is the official memo from me to you:

24 Jul

5 Ways Women in Business Stand Out and Get Noticed Today

By Lisa In Blog, Business, Client Experience, Entrepreneur, Fav, Featured, Featured, Leadership, Marketing, Networking, Social Media, The Social Business Academy, Work Life Balance / No Comments

I love that American Express Open is celebrating Women in business and I wanted to share the Infographic that they created.

The vast majority of my clients are women and I love to celebrate their success.

Although I also work with some very smart men, I seem to attract a lot of women who want help with Strategy when it comes to Social Media. I think this is because we are so good at relationships, and we are natural born caregivers so we tend to always be looking at how we can help and serve others. This tendency can often minimize our ability to look at the big picture and strategize our business.

Women were made for Social Media. We are great at relationships, connecting, referring business and being social in general. Couple that with a great business strategy and your ability to create success becomes unstoppable.

Here are five things I see Smart Social Business Women doing online to really stand out.

1. They use Video. Women who use video as part of their marketing strategy to educate and communicate with their audience demonstrate a high degree of poise and self confidence. Don’t kid yourself, doing that first video was hard for all of us – even those who seem like it was easy peasy!

2. They use a Smartphone. Today’s woman business owner is a multitasking queen. She knows that she cannot get it all done if she has to sit glued to her computer screen all day and she makes the most of her time using her mobile phone so she can be connected, informed and engaged on the go.

3. They care about others. These women show up on Social Networks each day and offer advice, encouragement and support to those who need it without even thinking about it. These are the women who are always posting positive content demonstrating their desire to have a positive mindset and contribution in all they do.

4. They give back. Not only are these women smart, social and business savvy. They give back to their community. They regularly donate money to causes and are the first to share and rally their networks when someone needs support.

5. They are strategic, deliberate and not afraid to make money. This is my favorite part. If you pay attention you can see how they implement their strategy online to drive sales to their business. These women are on a mission to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with. They are not afraid to invest in themselves, and they are most certainly not afraid to close the sale. This is why they are successful and often inspire others to follow their lead.

Sandra Yancey of eWomenNetwork is Powering Tomorrow! In celebration of Woman-Owned Businesses, check her out on American Express Open Forum here!

24 Jul

Shop Talk – Is Your Home Address Private or Public?

By Lisa In Blog, Client Experience, Easy User Tips for Social Media, Entrepreneur, Featured, Featured, Leadership, Shop Talk, Social Media, The Social Business Academy, Video / No Comments

Business owners ask me this question all the time: “I work from home, should I put my address on Facebook or other social networks?”

This is an important question and something you should give careful consideration. You want to provide enough information for your clients so your business appears credible, and you also need to protect your privacy.

Today’s ShopTalk will focus on how you can manage this predicament. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this one too!

Leadership

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