Taboos you should avoid while using Social Media

You have your brand. Personal or Business. You are trying to create a name for yourself and you want to put your best foot forward. Whether convincing someone to hire you, or selling your products or services, your brand image defines you. To do this, you need to be careful and be aware that there are certain taboos associated with having a presence on social media. Below I have outlined these for your review, and I hope that you will take them to heart. No one wants a social media blow-up on the hands, and avoiding certain actions will help your brand to succeed, and keep you followers engaged and loyal.

Negativity. The dictionary definition of Negative is the expression of gloominess and pessimism. Just the definition alone is enough to turn you away. As human beings, we have an innate ability to be negative. A lifetime of built up preconceptions of the world, formed and moulded by our parents, friends and everyone we come into contact with. Generally, people want to be happy. They strive and crave that positive and happy emotion. Social Media is the outlet where many now go for happiness. Whether it is jokes, pictures, videos, funny statements, information, or staying connected with family and friends, Social Media is a place to get away and to eke out a small if not fleeting piece of joy. Stay upbeat and positive, otherwise you will drive your followers away. Nothing makes you want to click that "unfriend" or "un-follow" button more than constantly having to read and see negative comments.

Profane Language. I see it quite a bit and to be honest, it is a sure-fire way to kill any chance you have of promoting your brand in a productive way. You come across as being uneducated and incapable of compassion and empathy. The internet can be a permanent place and people are watching. Many employers now watch the social media sites and they gauge whether or not you will make a good candidate. Profanity has no place in the home (in front of your mother), at work, or at school so why swear on-line?  Keep the language pure and nice and avoid the foul statements.

Pictures/Videos of you with alcoholic beverages in your hand. We all have these friends. My cousin's Facebook page always had pictures of her drinking. Now that she has two kids, no more drinking pictures but lots of baby pictures. The funny thing is that I still perceive her as that girl who was always out partying and drinking.  Perception is everything and you need to cultivate that into something that does not give the impression that you live in a frat house. When you are in your twenties, you tend to go out a lot to drink, thus you are happy and that is when you take pictures. Think again. Would you hire someone who appears to only be drinking?

Pictures/Videos of you that are not so nice. I had a picture of me during my Bachelor Party show up on Facebook. Obviously, you cannot control everything that everyone posts (you can control your settings to make sure you approve of it first.) This picture came in before I had set my settings to being able to review all wall posts. It was me in bed passed out sucking on my thumb. The person who posted it thought it was hilarious. I did not. My advice here is to make sure you control what others are posting about you. Again, do you want a future employer or client seeing you in a drunken fetal state after a night out on the town? Likely not.

Using someone else’s handheld/computer to post something on their Facebook page or Twitter feed. This is just common sense, or so you would think. Using someone’s device is an invasion of privacy. It is like going through someone's purse or wallet. You just don't do it. Using someone’s device and logging into their Facebook page to put something they think is funny on their wall or feed is not only an invasion but it is defamation of someone’s character. I had a friend that used to leave his IPhone unattended. Well he posted (or so I thought he did) “I have decided that I am coming out of the closet.” Well the amount of responses he got was unbelievable. I sent him a message saying, is this a joke? He came back with “of course it is.” Really, are you sure everyone else knows that. I found out later that one of his so called friends posted this when he had left his IPhone on a table to go to the bathroom. His mother saw the post and had actually went to him concerned about it. It caused major problems for him with his family, friends, and co-workers. The best piece of advice I can give here is to password protect your device. This will eliminate the problem all together. Whatever you do, do not tell people what the password is!

Making extremely political or radical statements. Like elbows, everyone has an opinion. Many of us live in countries whereby we have the full freedom of expression and speech. This is a good thing. But let’s face it, strong opinions tend to repress the desire to participate and engage. I know when I am looking at my morning feeds, sometimes I see things on there that I would like to comment on. I read them, then I think of the backlash and negative comments it would generate towards me. Again, you do not want your brand associated with strong and radical views. It will keep your potential followers at bay and unwilling to engage.

The image we portray is the basis for our brand’s success or failure. Whether it’s personal or business related, we want our followers and fans to be happy and content with knowing they backed the right brand. A dynamic, positive, constructive, and forward thinking image is your best option to optimize your brand power. Perception is everything today, especially on social media sites, so please avoid the above taboos!

 

 

 

5 Awesome Social Media Techniques for your Business – Keep it Personal and Consistent!

More and more businesses are starting to realize the importance and power of Social Media. SMO – Social Media Optimization and SMM – Social Media Marketing are ever increasingly becoming a part of the business plan. There are over 1.2 Billion Social Media users daily across the globe. It is a big sea of potential and the returns can be great. It is, however, a challenge to say the least to tap into the benefits of what Social Media has to offer. Being personal and consistent can help!

Here are 5 awesome techniques you can use to harness the power of Social Media and utilize the various platforms to drive users to your site and grow your business.

1-    Be Social, be yourself. I have witnessed numerous times how people fail to be a real person. They are some faceless admin person whose job is to only acknowledge and respond to concerns. Now with automated response technology to save time, the personal touch has been lost. The key word about Social Media is the social part. You have to have a presence that is personable, available and visible. Much like voicemail or automated receptionists, while it is a way to save time and money for business, it is also something that makes them become less human. Most people do not like automated systems, and would rather engage with a live person. Keep it real, keep it social and personal! 

2-    Engagement. This follows nicely after #1. Automated systems do not engage. They only acknowledge. If you want to truly gain a strong following to your brand and business, you need to be involved in the conversations and posts. Simply having an automated response to your customers concerns and comments will not do. I know for me when I see automated responses I cringe and think, ok is my response actually going to be seen by a real person? Sometimes I do not get a response at all which begs the question if automation really works. What if that person is on vacation?  

3-    Be Positive. If you think having a rant on Facebook or Twitter is the best way to engage your followers, think again. Studies show that no one enjoys negative comments. Regardless of the day you are having, no matter how frustrated you are, stay cool, stay calm, and keep it informative and positive. Never ever blog or post when you are upset. Much like writing emails, don’t do it when you are emotional. If you do, I would certainly have someone proof read them before you post.  

4-    Your Content. This is what you know, and what you want to share with the internet world. Content needs to be informative or entertaining. One of the two. It also needs to be original and creative. Don’t try and write a novel, make it concise and to the point. Nowadays, no one has time to read a 3 page blog. Quick and Quality information is key!  

5-    Consistency. This is a commonly overlooked technique. If you tweet or post less than once a week, I promise you that you will not gain followers. People want to see you on a regular basis, because hey you are awesome and have lots of great things to share! Just having Facebook or Twitter accounts is not enough. You need to be visible and active on the platforms regularly. Another thing is that you need to post or tweet consistently. If you are all over the map, like sometimes at midnight, maybe a few at 8am, then again at 9 pm, your followers will never know when you are posting/tweeting. Pick a time during the day that works for you and consistently stick with it.  

The above techniques work and will help you and your business. Keep with the personal and social strategy in your SMO plan and you will see the results.

SMS911's Wordle

When out and about, where does your handheld go?

People have different strategies when it comes to storing their handhelds when they are on the go. Do you keep yours clipped to your belt or do you have it in your pocket?  Let us look at the pros and cons of each method.

Clip. Great way to keep your handheld at the ready. Not so good when you are driving, and they tend to pop off you belt very easily. Blackberry’s were notorious for flying off your belt like they were shot out of a cannon - when you got out of your car, a shift of your jacket, you name it. I have yet to see someone clip an IPhone, although I see in the stores they do exist.

Cover or skin. They do protect the phone, but they also inhibit the natural use of the phone There are millions of designs and covers you can choose from.

Pocket. Easy, and keeps your handheld dry and secure. Downside is pocket dialing – the thrashing sound and you can actually hear the person moving, people talking. “Hey I am in your pocket, answer me!” Have you ever dialed 911? Almost 50% of all emergency calls are accidental.

Bra. Ok, I see many women with their handhelds in their bra. I have heard that it is there for easy access plus if it vibrates being up against your skin, it is easier to feel. When women go to the bar and do not have pockets, again the easiest place to keep the phone is in the bra. Ok, I get it functional. For men though, this is not an option.

Hand. I see people walking with their cell phones. What happens if you trip and fall? I guess the benefit is having it always at the ready.

Backpack or purse. Secure from weather and loss. You don’t hear or feel it go off so there are missed calls.

Attached to your headgear. I have seen women wearing head garments with an IPhone pressed against their head. The pro here is automatic access. The con is that it can easily be dropped with a quick turn of the head.

Driving. Where do you put your cell in the car? Do you attach it to a clip, in a cup holder, on the seat? The window clip works well. Only thing is it doesn’t work that well when you need to text or email. But, I guess that shouldn’t matter because it is illegal. In a holder is good. If you put it on the seat, every time you stop hard or make a sharp turn it goes flying and you have to either wait until you stop to retrieve it, or somehow do it while you are driving. I like to keep mine on my lap. Same problem, it slips off. I’ve had it go under my seat a few times. It is impossible to retrieve unless you are stopped.

Until our devices are somehow surgically implanted into our bodies, there will be a need for storing them when we are on the go. It creates a market of clips, covers, and skins, which are sold every day at malls and flea markets. One thing is for sure, handheld devices can cost upwards of $500 so the need to keep them safe is great. Unless you have an insurance plan, it can cost you a large penalty for lost, damaged or stolen devices.

Do you have any ideas for storing yours when you are mobile? Please feel free to share!

 

 

 

 

The Technology Overlap Generation

I know its a cliché but when I was a kid, technology was very different then it is today. Born in the 70's I'm a Generation "Xer" who was a youth of the 80s and 90s. It is unbelievable the changes to things such as phones, computers (we didn't have a computer until I was 15), calculators, cameras, TV's, even microwaves. The only thing that has not changed all the much is the dishwasher. Really, other then some aesthetic differences in buttons I do not believe the technology has evolved all the much.

For our telephone, it was a rotary when I was in the 1-5 year range. It was a tedious thing to use, and if you didn't get the tone just right, you ended up with a wrong number. It was a pulse style phone and it took about 30 seconds for the call to go through. I can remember waiting and waiting for the thing to work. Then we got our first touch tone. Whoa, what a difference it was to use this device. All you had to do was touch the numbers you wanted. More efficient and quicker. This phone we had until I left the house at 19. Touch tone phones are still very widely used, so I was part of bridging the gap from rotary to touch. The big thing now is wireless phones in your house. That occurred about 15 years ago. The cost for a 4-5 phone wireless househould system is in the area of $50-100.

The first household computer we had was a Commodore. Of course it was, everyone had them in the 80s and 90s. Compared to what we have today, it was a boat anchor. Very limited to what it could do, and unless you typed in a page of code, it did very little. The second, and what I like to call the real computer used Windows, and that was in 1994. My sister purchased it for school. It had word processing software, and it was able to do more then the Commodore. I remember playing my first computer based game on it. Wolfenstein 3D. Fun game, still even today its an enjoyable game. Over the years I've had 3 computers. One desktop, and two laptops. Plus multiple work laptops because I am in sales. The desktop cost me $2k. It had 16mb of RAM and could access the internet via an eithernet cord as there was no "Wifi" then. Compared to what I have now, it was archaic. I recently purchased an Acer laptop. It has everything on it, storage, DVD CD writer, it is fast, has a big bright screen, and the cost was $400? Cheaper, better, and about 100 times faster.

In 1999 I bought my first cellular phone. It was the Clearnet Brick phone. I thought it was amazing. You could talk anywhere with it, in your car (this was before Bluetooth) at your buddies house, anywhere. Well almost anywhere, there had to be a tower close by. Since then, I've had several cell phones. Each one better then the next. Then in 2005 I got a Blackberry (AKA Crackberry.) Now, this was revolutionary. You could check you emails on your phone. Pretty amazing, and it worked well. I still have a Blackberry 8 years later. I also have a Samsung S3. Its pretty cool too for apps and internet. Still, the Blackberry keyboard rocks.

The touch revolution started about 2007 for us. My wife received an Itouch and from there it started. Since then, we have 3 tablets, 2 old Iphones, 1 new Iphone, 1 Android,  and the Itouch. That makes 7 touch devices. My son was able to use these devices before he could even read, such easy technology to use. I recall watching Star Trek in the 90's, Jean-Luc Picard and the boys and girls using these fancy pad things for reading, for work, for everything. I never thought that it would happen so soon. All within about a 10 year period. Even my GPS in my car is touch. Nothing runs on keyboards any more other then computers. I remember taking typing in grade 9, it has come in handy over the years, but will the next generation use or even need it? Maybe they will teach kids the "hunt and peck" method on their handhelds?

Televisions have come along way from those old Zennith floor models. Everything is now flat screen and can be hung on your wall. The picture clarity is very good now, a far cry from the time when I watched GI Joe and Ghostbuster's cartoons in the basement of my parents home.

With the amazing handheld devices we have, things like calculators and cameras are a thing of the past. They are standard tools on every device. I haven't used a camera (other then the one on my phone) in years. Same with the calculator. Why would you? It used to be that the picture quality was 1 megapixel on a phone. It was horrible, you were better off drawing a picture. Now, most phones have a quality of nothing less then 10 megapixels. Its funny, because when I was in college, the newspaper at the school bragged about buying a digital camera for the deal price of $4000. It was 3 megapixels. Hmm, I'm thinking that was not such a good buy.

The overlap of technology I have seen has been remarkable. I think back and wonder how on earth did I ever live without a computer or my Samsung? Funny though, I don't remember wanting to be able to call someone in my car when I was 16?

Customer Service and Social Media

Things are moving fast now. We want recognition and ingratiation that our issues with products and services are being addressed. I am not talking about the cursory automated email that says "thank you for your comments, we will respond to your email within 7 business days." Seven business days? That is like a week and a half. By the time I receive a response I will have stewed and fretted about it to the point whereby I will never use that company again. Statistics show that over 70% of customers who receive bad customer service leave and go to a competitor.

With Social Media, if a customer has an issue they want an answer via that platform within 60 minutes. If not, then they feel as though their business is not appreciated. Every year, billions are lost, $338 billion to be exact, due to companies not realizing the importance of a robust and responsive customer service SOP. Sure, they have customer service tel. numbers, they have customer service departments, but is there something in place to deal with the posts, un-likes, un-follows, etc? Just having a company page on Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter because someone in the marketing department told you, you had to is not enough. You have to incorporate your social media marketing plan with your customer service plan. It has to be live and reactive to your clients concerns and needs.

Currently, 100 million people in North America have and use a handheld device. They use this device 10+ times a day on average. Our culture has changed from a patient, "I can wait 7 days for a response" to one that wants a response now. Not tomorrow, not whenever we get around to it, now. 70% of customers are willing to spend 13% more if they feel they will receive a higher level of customer service from a company. On average, if a customer receives poor service, they will tell 9 people. It takes about 12 positive experiences to erase the ripple effects of a negative experience.

Studies do show, that it has to be a mix of both. Your customer service portfolio has to include both in-person, and on-line customer service SOP's. More mature individuals like the P2P contact, while the younger more tech savvy gurus like the online social media response. Regardless of how the contact occurs, one thing is for sure, your response time has to be immediate. Clearly, failure to realize the importance of having a reactive customer service model means a loss of business, and a loss of money. Can your company afford not to embrace the social media customer service model?

First Month of Starting an On-line Business

So in my first month of starting my online business, I have found out and learned many interesting things about the world of social media, website design, html, SEO, back-linking, monetization, tips, advise, statistics, you name it. The industry is fascinating to say the least. I love it though. So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges of trying to get this business started. Here is what I have learned so far about getting started and hopefully I can provide some helpful and relevant content here.

First thing first. You need a basic understanding of how to use a computer and the various programs that accompany it. If you have troubles turning on the coffee maker, then I would suggest looking for some courses to brush up on your computer skills. I'm not saying you have to be an expert, but a basic knowledge of how to use Microsoft Office products, email platforms such as lotus notes and outlook, and how to use an internet browser will certainly make your journey to start a business that much easier. Go to you local community college to see if they have any offerings for basic level computer courses. Then from there you can work your way up to intermediate and more advanced level courses. For me, as I work in the business world, I am very familiar with how to use a computer so it was not that difficult for me to get started.

Actually, you need an idea first but I was getting ahead of myself a bit. What do you want to do when starting an internet business? Do you want to offer a site that sells goods, services, etc? You need a plan of what you want to do, a brand. One thing you do know is that you want to start a business of your own so I would assume the spirit of the entrepreneur lives in you. That is the start of a foundation. What do you want to do? I started with the idea and brand of being what is called a "Social Media Strategist." What is this, what services do I provide, how do I make money? Well, you need to build a following, get likes, get exposure, get some buzz going. My tag line is "Getting you the Buzz you need!" Well, it is more complicated then I thought, but still fulfilling. It takes time, it takes reading a lot of information, both off and online, it takes patience. Developing the following you need takes a lot of time. Starting a business such as this should be something you do on the side at first, then as you do get going pull away from your day job. Remember, never, never, never give up!

Once you have that knowledge and comfort level, you need to purchase a computer. Go to Best Buy or wherever, and look at laptops. You may think a desktop is the way to go, but laptops these days come with very large screens, lots of programs you need, and the speed and agility of todays laptops is excellent. I would suggest spending in the range of $400-800 on one. 750 GB of memory is more then you will ever need. If you don't know what GB is, it is Gigabyte.

Second thing, you need a basic understanding of social media and the various platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Linked, Google+, Pinterest, Myspace, Instagram, Vine, etc. The accounts are free, and best way to learn how to use them is to open an account and get started. Each social media platform is different, and attracts different types of users. While Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with people, Twitter is more of a way to follow current events and what people are doing on a daily basis.

You will need a website. Ultimately, you want traffic from various sources to visit your website. Based on search engines such as Google and Bing, rankings, links to other sites,  you need to develop and design a website. It is all about website traffic and getting people to your site. You can take courses on website design, buy books, get advise online, etc. There are host providers such as Hostpapa, Hostgator and GoDaddy that provide template website design services. They are fairly user friendly, but again having a basic knowledge of how to use a computer and the internet is a must.

Next thing, and this can drive traffic to your site and platform pages is starting a blog and sharing your knowledge with the world (once you have obtained that knowledge.) The number one thing I have read, and heard from many sources is that you need to engage your followers with content that is interesting and relevant to what they are interested in. This is very true. If you talk more about you, your dog, your favorite colour, or whatever, you will not engage anyone. Remember this, use the 80/20 rule. 80% should be about something other then you, some knowledge, information, pictures, videos of something that your audience would be interested in. 20% can be engagement with your audience, chatting, a joke, something shared that's funny, etc. Keep it informative and relevant.

Next is making money. You have done all this work, now you need to make money, yes! With blogging and your websites, yes you can make money with it, but I would say to start off you are not going to have a following of million people, so you may have to make money via other sources. Selling on your sites is one way. Everything from amazon.com to web hosting companies can help you start the ball rolling with affiliate programs. Once you get a good following, eventually when you are selling something you will catch someone in a buying mood. here is a link to a great blog post with strategies to help you make money with your site: http://letsbuildwebsites.com/website-monetization-strategies/

The number one thing to remember when starting up is to never give up on your dream to be your own boss and to have your own business. It is daunting, and yes it is risky. But with high risks, come high rewards. Good luck to you!

Started SMS911 as of July 2013 to fulfill a need for social media coaching, strategy, and guidance. Looking for new clients, small, medium, and large size companies. SMS911 currently offers the below services for its clients:

Social Media Set-up and Branding
Social Media Content Management and CoachingOrganic Friend/Follower Aggregation
SEO - Search Engine Optimization
Blog Coaching and set-up
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
QR Code design and management
Social Media Campaign/Cause Marketing
Contests and promotions

For a free 30 min consultation email mike@sms911.ca now.