tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63088792735785720002024-03-06T16:03:02.482-04:00Being Social - Heather-Anne MacLeanReal-life Practical Experiences in PR, Social Media and the Crazy Things Life Throws at Us. Leave your Spin at the Door Please!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-47361644807634099282013-10-15T17:31:00.002-03:002013-10-15T17:31:40.835-03:00My Blog has moved! Join me at http://heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-7328183482134989692013-09-10T09:35:00.000-03:002013-09-10T09:35:35.030-03:005 Tips for Small Business Owners To Pick a Content Marketing Expert<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Content marketing continues to grow and for good reason. It
enables businesses to leverage their expertise in a real and demonstrable
manner, at a relatively low cost. So, why aren't more small businesses taking
advantage and incorporating content marketing? The answer is simple. They just don't have the expertise or the
time. There are many excellent marketing practitioners who live and breathe content marketing. At the same time, there are many people who profess to understand content marketing and do not. Here are 5 tips for getting started when seeking your content marketer:</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrT1F-su995Jg3g7_9ZRyx4X9SHimDPCZoVcYQvy0b8kWz-cbEK17n3kKjh0rQN92Vltb-ff5_EOvCABmVdrNF-KhSf9-RvieXz8BFo9LWopR5MQEN3mHitz220PKB5-9y65-nDLeRtIM/s1600/Content+is+King.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrT1F-su995Jg3g7_9ZRyx4X9SHimDPCZoVcYQvy0b8kWz-cbEK17n3kKjh0rQN92Vltb-ff5_EOvCABmVdrNF-KhSf9-RvieXz8BFo9LWopR5MQEN3mHitz220PKB5-9y65-nDLeRtIM/s1600/Content+is+King.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy of doublinx.com</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Think
Strategically</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the first things that a content marketer should ask
about is your strategy.</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good content
marketing consultants will interview you about this and ask thought-provoking
questions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Develop Personas</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to curate content, it is essential that your
content marketing professional be able to develop personas, should you not
already have them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Act with Integration in Mind</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Content should not be created only with social in mind. An integrated approach must be taken. Be sure that your marketing consultant has
the expertise to leverage and implement an integrated marketing approach. Don't be dazzled by someone who knows how to
set up a Facebook Page or Group.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Execute Based on
Best Practices </span></h4>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Be sure to ask questions to determine if your consultant knows
how to make use of the right channels at the right time. For example, recommending to post updates to
Facebook at the wrong times with the wrong content will result in poor
results. This also applies to quality
over quantity. Always look for
consultants that focus on quality first.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Focus On Long-term
Results</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As tempted as we are to want things to happen immediately,
marketing is something that takes time.
Your consultant should be prepared to guide you through the process and
make adjustments as needed. Remember we
are dealing with consumer behaviour and influencing behaviour takes time. </span></div>
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These are just 5 starting points to get you thinking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking for more tips for small business? Check out:
<a href="http://heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/12-reasons-to-do-a-communications-audit-immediately/" target="_blank">25 Cool Online Resources to Grow Your Business.</a></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-3836672712275743162013-09-08T15:17:00.003-03:002013-09-08T15:17:19.900-03:0012 Reasons to Do a Communications Audit Immediately<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Communications is at the core of success and therefore, a periodic communications audit is critical to ensure that you are meeting the changing needs to your stakeholders. Here are X reasons to do a communications audit immediately:<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOvO_5vKyLIOQe3fqfy0jQnah-hwmikRo5IUWQ9k4jJzhHMWaxsh8a3SAbnGhlUhFgGOC5nxu-UpAu3zb-XgeyLjr8FdzTiUSPeY3QM6b0nx7Je3ZDtjg7xBDEDmT_RyUE4JsNcGhEiFw/s1600/Audit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOvO_5vKyLIOQe3fqfy0jQnah-hwmikRo5IUWQ9k4jJzhHMWaxsh8a3SAbnGhlUhFgGOC5nxu-UpAu3zb-XgeyLjr8FdzTiUSPeY3QM6b0nx7Je3ZDtjg7xBDEDmT_RyUE4JsNcGhEiFw/s320/Audit.JPG" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy of <a class="irc_hol irc_itl" data-ved="0CAcQjB0wAA" href="http://www.bcrealtysolutions.ca/blog/social-media-audit" style="background-color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;"><span class="irc_ho" style="color: #d6d6d6; margin-right: -2px; padding-right: 2px;">www.bcrealtysolutions.ca</span></a></td></tr>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. You are no longer getting the same level of employee feedback as you once did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Your external stakeholders are no longer engaged.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Repeat Customers have diminished.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Your Top of the Funnel Sales Leads have decreased.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Regulators or legislative bodies claim that they don't know what you are doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. The media report that you are not available for comment or did not respond by time of deadline.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Your read rate of online newsletters has decreased.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. Employee retention is an issue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9. Employee sick time is increasing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10. Labor relations is an issue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11. Investors are not happy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">12. You don't know what medium is the right one to communicate with employees, customers, stakeholders, regulators, media, etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The good news is that a communications audit can be done to determine strengths and weaknesses between management and employees and management and external parties. The focus can be exclusively on the internal or external relationship, or both. An audit will not only determine strengths and weaknesses, but it will also determine the channels of choice for specific audiences, frequency of communication and how different types of communications should be addressed for specific audiences. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more information on Communication Audits, check out: <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/HeatherMacLean/communications-audit" target="_blank">8 Key Steps for a Successful Communications Audit</a></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-18120687724465456682013-09-06T12:53:00.003-03:002013-09-06T12:55:24.469-03:0025 Cool Online Resources to Grow Your Business<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Small and medium business owners are always on the lookout for great resources to help them grow, but they don’t always have time to research, read, and sort the wheat from the chaff. So I've done the preliminary work for you. </div>
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Here are 25 helpful small business resources covering everything from naming your new business to creating content for your marketing strategy, to increasing sales. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnmFc9G1PJ_fxesr10YPW7angr-RuMU3eeMoIcrWSgNnyEAo0gj8UOn5YMwRkkRMFXdJrUqqwhCYJWVjKtGcuciFDEneZSh4CRTAkar5RllEVAlbEQIB1FQ_xbFRQwhT9BGFDY1ZXe1T4/s1600/Entrepreneur.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnmFc9G1PJ_fxesr10YPW7angr-RuMU3eeMoIcrWSgNnyEAo0gj8UOn5YMwRkkRMFXdJrUqqwhCYJWVjKtGcuciFDEneZSh4CRTAkar5RllEVAlbEQIB1FQ_xbFRQwhT9BGFDY1ZXe1T4/s320/Entrepreneur.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Image courtesy of Entreprenuer.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In no particular order, here a list of SMB resources you're going to want to bookmark:</div>
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1. <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/microsites/solutions/assets/entrepreneur-solutions-playbook-fedex.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Entrepreneur Solutions Playbook – 25 Small-Business Challenges </a><a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/microsites/solutions/assets/entrepreneur-solutions-playbook-fedex.pdf" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">[PDF]</a>: A great discussion on the Top 25 Small Business Challenges</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
2. <a href="http://www.bitrebels.com/social/simple-guide-to-branding-infographic/%20" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">The Simple Guide to Branding Your Small Business [Infographic]</a>: Looking for great advice on branding? Check out this visual.</div>
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3. <a href="http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/226071" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">5 Startup Naming Rules from SXSW</a>: This article discusses how to position your business, including Do's and Don't's.</div>
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4. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/smallbusinesses" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Facebook – Small Business Page</a>: Great up-to-date ideas and information for small businesses plus you can contribute your ideas.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
5. <a href="http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/six-best-practices-creating-content-marketing-strategy-154754103.html" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Six Best Practices for Creating a Content Marketing Strategy</a>: Whether you're just getting started with content marketing or you're at it for awhile, this article to shares best practices.</div>
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6. <a href="http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/ehandbook/Small-business-mobility-meets-big-business-needs" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Small Business Mobility Meets Big Business Needs</a>: Learn more about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).</div>
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7. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/smallBusiness/resourceCenter" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Reuters Small Business Resource Center</a>: Looking for a well-rounded source for starting a business, employment law and more, check out this resource center.</div>
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8. <a href="http://money.cnn.com/smallbusiness/community/?iid=SB_Sub" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">CNN Small Business Community:</a> Join the CNN Small Business Community for interesting posts from CNN Money.</div>
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9. <a href="http://www.smartbiz.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Smart Bizz – Small Business and Startups Internet Technology Resources</a>: Another good source for a broad range of subjects from e-commerce, productivity and more in this resource center.</div>
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10. <a href="http://www.nfib.com/business-resources" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">NFIB – National Federation of Independent Business, the Voice of Small Business</a>: From healthcare to sales and customer service to finance and accounting, get topical posts to help you advance your business.</div>
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11. <a href="http://smallbusiness.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Smallbusiness.com – a Free Wiki</a>: Get local-based information based on your State. Check out this community portal to learn the latest happenings in small business.</div>
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12. <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/small-business" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal – Market Watch</a>: Looking for an<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6308879273578572000" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_self"> aggregate </a>of great news-related posts for your small business? This is another great one-stop shop.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
13. <a href="https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=CitiBizToolsResources" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">CitiBank Small Business Resources</a>: Learn more about risk and financial security.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
14. <a href="http://www.att.com/smallbusiness/solutions/pages/strategies-insights/index.jsp" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">AT&T Strategies and Insights</a>: Access posts on how to attract customers, increase sales, build relationships and more on this handy site.</div>
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15. <a href="http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">IT Business Edge – Small Business Computing</a>: Get how-to guides, small business tips and more on this site.</div>
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16. <a href="https://smallbusinessonlinecommunity.bankofamerica.com/welcome" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Bank of America Small Business Community</a>: Learn about small businesses of the month, ask the community questions and more.</div>
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17. <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/smallbusiness/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Network Solutions - Small Business Center</a>: Get a roundup of small business news all in one spot.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
18. <a href="http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/solutions/small_business/resource_center/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Cisco Small Business Resource Center</a>: This center has articles, customer stories news and more all in one spot.</div>
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19. <a href="http://www.sbaguides.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Small Business Guides</a>: Get the latest guides on financing, training and events.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
20. <a href="http://www.gosmallbiz.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Go Small Biz</a>: Looking for a go-to on tax/accounting, sales, HR, risk and tech in one spot? This could be your go-to.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
21. <a href="http://www.allbusiness.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">All Business - Your Small Business Advantage</a>: Get access to the top stories, All Business experts and more.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
22. <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/smb/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Information Week SMB Technology for Small and Midsized Business</a>: Get access to weekly email updates, SMB stories right from SMBs and more.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
23. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/business/en-us/resources/marketing/small-business-marketing.aspx?fbid=Yz3SFgGUzhG" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Microsoft Business for Small and Midsized Business</a>: Learn new ways to use Microsoft tools get tips and marketing research.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
24. <a href="http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">DuctTape Marketing Blog</a>: Blog posts, free ebooks and information on courses abound this site.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
25. <a href="https://www.openforum.com/" style="border: 0px; color: #1798c1; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">AMEX Open Forum</a>: Recently redesigned, exchange advice, get ideas and learn small business success.</div>
<div style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Note: a version of this post appeared on the Salesforce blog that I wrote for them in August of this year.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-57094096130164936752013-08-21T18:01:00.000-03:002013-08-21T18:05:47.401-03:003 Performance Killers Leaders Should Watch for and Stop<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Performance killers are a reality, but it is up to an organization's leadership to be on the watch for such behaviour. In fact, it is essential for managers to be trained to spot and address this destructive behaviour in order to build high-performance teams. And herein lies the difference between teams and departments. In teams you don't have this behaviour. In departments that are experiencing challenging times and/or people competing to avoid downsizing, this behaviour is rampant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As someone who has managed teams for close to 20 years, a former colleague reached out to me recently get some advice on some behaviours he was seeing in his own department. With that in mind, I offered him the following description of what I was trained to lookout for as a manager.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are three performance killers that managers need to address and end:</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">1. </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cliques or Power Coalitions</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> Coalitions frequently in group settings. In
this case, a few people align themselves with the leader and withhold praise or
positive feedback outside the clique. In
fact, giving praise to other members of team is intentionally withheld and may
even go as far as to persuade the leader that the other parties are not
performing. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Image courtesy of <a class="irc_hol irc_itl" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.oldrightie.com/2013_01_01_archive.html" style="background-color: #222222; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;"><span class="irc_ho" style="color: #d6d6d6; margin-right: -2px; padding-right: 2px;">www.oldrightie.com</span></a><span class="irc_dim" style="background-color: #222222; color: #7d7d7d; line-height: 16px; text-align: start; white-space: nowrap;"> -</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">2. Enforced Silos</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Silos can occur in
conjunction with cliques or independently of another action. In these situations, people involved are
focused on self-promotion and their careers rather than the overall good of the
department and ultimately the team.
Individuals involved in these actions will ensure that information is
withheld from others. Marginalization of other departmental members usually occurs. </span><br />
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<h4>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">3. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">Alienators</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"> In this case, Alienators work quietly at
first dropping hints to the leader that other people are not doing their jobs
and/or not performing as well as should be expected. Alienators are very skilled at creating the
perception that he or she is concerned about the “team’s” reputation and
ultimately the leader’s reputation.
Through continued conversations, the discussions escalate to the point
where the leader believes that the Alienator has his or her best interests at
heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Managers should be on the lookout for these behaviours, particularly during troubled times. And when he or she sees this occurring,<i> the manager must take the bull by the horns</i>. Staff members can't address this. The situation for those individuals will only worsen. Managers need to look closely at the members of their department and ask questions like: who is always finding fault with members other than their small clique? Who uses pass aggressive techniques to slide in negative comments? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only way to stop this destructive behaviour is to set the stage that team members support one another and make each member in the department look good both within the department and outside the department. That is a true sign of team participation. While this is not easy for many mangers, good managers make it a practice to not accept anything less, even from people with whom they have befriended in the reporting structure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are only three destructive behaviours that can occur. What would you add to this list?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-91075108816981839352013-08-19T20:54:00.000-03:002013-09-02T13:32:17.351-03:00BOOK REVIEW: Danny Brown & Sam Fiorella's Influence Marketing<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love that I get the chance to meet really smart, interesting and inspiring people and in the process read great books and do book reviews. <a href="http://dannybrown.me/">Danny Brown</a> is one of those people. <a href="http://www.samfiorella.com/">Sam</a>, hopefully we get to connect soon too! As I get ready to do my PhD on Digital Influence, I was pumped to read Danny's and Sam's book: Influence Marketing: How to Create, Manage, and Measure Brand Influencers in Social Media Marketing. After all it is a bout Influence!<br /><br /><br /> Both Danny and Sam are well known for their marketing prowess and have really developed the conversation around influence. When done well, we don't even realize that tactics of influence are being executed on us. As expected, this is a well written book chalk full of information.<br /></span><br /> <br /> From the Book's synopsis: <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59iboGDEaGkj1AyhhspF7bDlhHjni92mTEMdvhYrQBUWsUIwHXzJXFHFtfbGAtseEVWRC7unnb6O1ejjvMLlr7O5SnH69mJqdD_iv_o94IS7VxZby5sWGcZSzJTQ7p0_kB2lemMueAlY/s1600/Influence+Book.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59iboGDEaGkj1AyhhspF7bDlhHjni92mTEMdvhYrQBUWsUIwHXzJXFHFtfbGAtseEVWRC7unnb6O1ejjvMLlr7O5SnH69mJqdD_iv_o94IS7VxZby5sWGcZSzJTQ7p0_kB2lemMueAlY/s320/Influence+Book.JPG" /></a> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Today, you face a brutally tough, maddeningly elusive new competitor: the “wisdom of crowds.” Social media gives consumers 24x7 access to the attitudes and recommendations of their most engaged peers. These are the views that shape buying decisions. These are the views you must shape and use.Influence Marketing won’t just help you identify and enlist key influencers: it will help you manage the influence paths that lead consumers to buy. By sharing empirical evidence of hard-won lessons from pioneering influence marketers, Danny Brown and Sam Fiorella provide a blueprint that moves influence marketing beyond simple brand awareness and into sales acquisition and customer life time value measurement. They integrate new tools and techniques into a complete methodology for generating more and better leads—and converting them faster, at higher margins.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Put the customer—not the influencer—at the center, and plan influence marketing accordingly<br />• Recognize where each prospect stands in the purchase life cycle right now<br />• Clarify how your consumers move from brand preference to purchase<br />• Identify key micro-influencers who impact decisions at every stage<br />• Gain indispensable insights into the context of online relationships<br />• Recognize situational factors that derail social media brand recommendations<br />• Understand social influence scoring models and overcome their limitations<br />• Re-engineer and predict influence paths to generate measurable action<br />• Master the “4 Ms” of influence marketing: make, manage, monitor, measure<br />• Transform influence marketing from a “nice-to-have” exercise into a powerful strategy<br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Additional online resources can be found at www.influencemarketingbook.com"<br /><br /><br /> Now, My Review: <br /><br />This is one of the most comprehensive books on Influence Marketing that I have come across. From defining what Influencers are to understanding the emotion and logic that drives Influence to role of social media to exploring the shift of power from the brand to consumer and more, Danny and Sam have this exciting topic covered. They even go one step further and offer case studies to reinforce and support their topics. <br /><br /><br /> What stood out for me most? Well, it was really the discussions around Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS). This section of the book, like the entire book, was well thought out and got me thinking a lot about how to better measure Influence and the need to incorporate different measures than what have been discussed. This will be an area that I explore much deeper thanks to the authors.<br /><br /><br /> Finally, another part of the book that I particularly liked and will draw upon to support initiatives is the definition of Influencers. As Influencer Marketing becomes more and more the topic du jour, helping people understand who is an Influencer and who is an Advocate, for example will really make a difference in developing ones strategy and tactics to use in an integrated marketing plan, that includes Influence Marketing. <br /><br /><br /> So, you are looking to get an A-Z understanding of Influencer Marketing, I would get this book. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-39259373052715817532013-07-31T20:53:00.004-03:002013-12-20T09:51:18.478-04:007 Considerations To Choose the Right Corporate Spokesperson <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The choice of corporate spokesperson should never be taken lightly. Never. Having the wrong person representing you can damage your brand in the best case scenario. In the worse-case scenario, it could destroy your brand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The person or persons chosen need to be creditable, knowledgeable, well-spoken, but above all empathetic and likable. There have been a few tragic situations over the last few years when brands seem to have forgotten this fundamental rule.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsoTPUWYChH9xUcr02VXItgWbp6VR17gPL-fYEH9jC0qMyY9G6evaSq3QxBamh5itQbaBDAgk8Yuceq6tCaVh4PU5Ty3RgKGbdqhCortYMGDm67LKOA3HYT6vPpda8T9Moud_je-xrnbk/s1600/Spokesperson.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsoTPUWYChH9xUcr02VXItgWbp6VR17gPL-fYEH9jC0qMyY9G6evaSq3QxBamh5itQbaBDAgk8Yuceq6tCaVh4PU5Ty3RgKGbdqhCortYMGDm67LKOA3HYT6vPpda8T9Moud_je-xrnbk/s320/Spokesperson.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my 20+ years in Public Relations and Crisis Communications I have both been a corporate spokesperson and coached others in this role. It is not an easy task. You are often dealing with death. There are just no words that can make anyone feel better at a time like this. That is why it is so critical that you have someone who can give information and facts and most importantly have real and genuine empathy. You can't fake empathy. You can't fake the terrible feeling that you have knowing that a human-being has died. At this point the spokesperson must do his or her best to share information that will help make some sense of the tragedy without inflaming victims and loves-ones who are experiencing complete and utter loss, disbelief and anger.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago I listened as one corporate spokesperson spoke on a very, very tragic situation here in Canada. I did not envy him or anyone who had attempted to coach him. This level of tragedy was unknown in our country and facing those left behind was not going to be easy. Suffice it to say, the conversation did not go well. The words chosen and even the tone used, were wrong. I listened in disbelief. Tonight I listened to a follow-up interview. My only words to describe what I heard was: why isn't someone saving him from himself? Again the words chosen will only inflame the victims' families. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brands can mitigate this by having the right person in place. I offer the following advice to brands to avoid having the wrong spokesperson:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. <b> Know the abilities of your employees, including your executives</b>. Choose based on knowledge and the ability to be empathetic and likeable, not based on position. While it is true that PR people will "typically" recommend that the most senior person speak out to "take responsibility" in very serious circumstances, avoid this if your most senior person does not come across as caring, patient, and likeable. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. <b>Have a regular cadence of training for your spokespersons</b>. Don't wait for a tragedy. Have mock interviews with cameras, people playing probing and tough reporters. Be sure to watch and critique the interviews with the spokespersons. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. <b> Get 3rd party impressions of the spokespersons. </b> Play on-camera interviews with the audio turned off. Ask what people felt about the spokesperson. Did they feel that he or she was telling the truth or hiding something? Did the person look angry, sincere, or arrogant? You need to know this before an issue emerges. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. <b> If necessary, retrain after the the feedback</b>. If there is no improvement, replace the spokesperson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. If the unthinkable happens and the spokesperson is called into duty,<b> respond quickly.</b> The longer you wait, the more inflamed people will be. Review and assess the person's experience. Be honest and really critique the situation. This is the time that you need everyone doing the right thing for the victims and their families. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. <b> Change spokespersons if necessary</b>. Do it and do it swiftly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. This one is most important: <b>Be human</b>. You are dealing with a tragedy. Remember that. You are not the victim. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tragedies are never easy. The role of the spokesperson is do the best job to provide the facts and not inflame people. </span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-78003922964518946902013-07-26T17:42:00.000-03:002013-07-26T17:42:21.386-03:00How LinkedIn Inspired Me<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week, LinkedIn asked its Influencers to write about "what Influences" them. This was a great idea. Not only did we get to learn more about the individual influencers as people, but we got to learn more about how the actual person thinks and processes information. It is one thing to write about what you do professionally and provide thought-leadership, but quite another to talk about what inspires you as a person. Reading their posts were really quite revealing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, LinkedIn's great idea along with reading the various Influencer posts, inspired me to write about my inspirations. Well, here we go:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I sat to write this, I realized that the people who have inspired me most in my life had something in common. They all had a number of personality traits that were the same. I hadn't compartmentalized people like this before, but the truth is here in black and white.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So who are the people who have inspired me in my lifetime? Here are just a few.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. My parents</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. My maternal grandmother and great grandmother</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. My first boss: Elwood Maxwell</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Lori MacMullen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Deb Arnold</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Nelson Mandela, whom I wish I knew.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqlpar5car1r-sQtSMeTeC0UIOaWeQPUCBfkRwHy77FXtLWD93LMPq_QaylVnEvydmpvKwRrrkH_4lh-XiEerIR0WScxitCxYaeVFsmlGoZ_RhurHTrPEpUJtjZyfP8AATrb2BO1RDwt8/s1600/riboon+cutting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqlpar5car1r-sQtSMeTeC0UIOaWeQPUCBfkRwHy77FXtLWD93LMPq_QaylVnEvydmpvKwRrrkH_4lh-XiEerIR0WScxitCxYaeVFsmlGoZ_RhurHTrPEpUJtjZyfP8AATrb2BO1RDwt8/s320/riboon+cutting.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My father after the Ribbon Cutting - New Seniors Complex in Home Town</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do these people all have in common? Strength, perseverance, intelligence, but above all else, they have compassion and exhibit forgiveness and kindness on a daily basis. I think that these traits separate much more than the wheat from the chaff. No, these traits characterize people who are selfless and help others. They want to genuinely help others be in a better place. These are not people who are selfish or self-absorbed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, some of these people I list are no longer with us. So I pay tribute to my father, my grandmother, great grandmother and Deb Arnold here! They are all greatly missed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many other great people in this world. Who would YOU add to this list? </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-71689799769654971552013-07-23T20:18:00.001-03:002013-07-23T22:02:50.295-03:005 Marketing Lessons Learned From A Closet Monarchist<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">O.k.! I admit it. I am a Monarchist. I am not really even sure when that
happened. But I must come clean and
admit it. Maybe it was growing up and drawing out Union Jacks, despite the
obvious fact that I am of Scottish ancestry, but I won</span>'<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">t go there, M</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">aybe it is because I grew up looking at the Queen on most of our
money..or..or..who knows. I just am. So, now that it is out, I will even share some
of my photos with you in this post.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also have to admit that my title for this blog was going
to be: "Confessions of a Monarchist", but because I actually working
in social media and content marketing, I know that headlines with a number in
them, do better...they really do!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, what I have learned from being a Monarchist? Apparently a few things:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Pomp and
Circumstance is a great marketing tactic!</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Royals know how to do this better than anyone I
know. They make an announcement like an
engagement, but don't announce the date.
They hold a media event to show the ring. All the experts weigh in to demonstrate their
knowledge of procedure and protocol. The
speculation begins on the "where will they get married and who will design
the dress". Excitement and
anticipation is created. The date gets
announced, more experts weigh in and photos are shared. Speculation on who will be invited
starts. The wedding is held and everyone
waits with bated breath to see the dress and of course and "the fascinators". Then there is anticipation about when will
there be a royal heir. This isn't a campaign
of days or even weeks! No, this has been
nearly a three-year campaign!
Brilliant. Talk about keeping the
conversation going! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHp7XvhYsxDI3PpwVlAYz1l6lCa6ihL-mmrcUe8YT7u1Kvi2EN9KmMq_2CwBqR-8_As65QIjdaURhylhyphenhyphenZFzYtJkRbTm1mBBot_vAw0CVmWHjE94M4jvlmqCiUqWtl4f1u6BJ3o7UMfQ/s1600/Princess+Di_82.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyHp7XvhYsxDI3PpwVlAYz1l6lCa6ihL-mmrcUe8YT7u1Kvi2EN9KmMq_2CwBqR-8_As65QIjdaURhylhyphenhyphenZFzYtJkRbTm1mBBot_vAw0CVmWHjE94M4jvlmqCiUqWtl4f1u6BJ3o7UMfQ/s320/Princess+Di_82.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took this photo on June 18, 1983, - Royal Visit - Campbellton, NB</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Tradition Trumps A
Flash-in-the-Pan Initiative</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sure there are traditions that just don't make sense and
really are stupid. However, there are some traditions that come and go, and when the Royals have something to celebrate, the fun and good ones come
back. In terms of fun, I can't help but
think about the above mentioned fascinators that we saw at Kate and Will's wedding. Sure, some were downright silly looking, but
they were great fodder to chuckle and ask:
"why?". Others were
quite nice and many women adopted them, at least for a little while. A new
revenue stream for some! Then there are
the wedding dresses. I was till youngish
when Diana and Charles married, but years later friends had replicas of Diana's
dress made for their high school graduation dress. Seriously!
I kid you not. I am sure I have a
pic somewhere of a friend, but I don't think she wants to be "in" my
blog post.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Use the Right Mix
of Media</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new guard is definitely in town. Prince William is on Facebook and updating
his masses about the birth and then posting pics after the fact. Even Queen Elizabeth has a page on
Facebook. And, then of course there is
Twitter. The British Monarchy has their
own Twitter handle: @britishmonarchy,
and why shouldn't they. Nearly 576,000
people want to hear from the Monarchy on their Twitter feed. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Digital media aside and reinforcing the tactic of tradition
in your marketing and communications plans, the Monarchy didn't just go new
school. They mixed tradition right in
the middle. Imagine, taking an
announcement and placing it on an easel outside <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Buckingham</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Palace</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
Really? Despite rain, police officers
had to form a makeshift guard of honour at the gates to control the crowds who
came to see the easel! The easel! </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgz47OcMx6YSrxowKccVFliEV5d6Rp4W5oLruFckBnEXizIuc8xSren4bbCGGn61Pd_wrkt8sadNrlF6IYXQuP3mF_lwMj1HEdXP9QQCWMsY1UJufLr-7w94xDLpYQMBndH64acGIBtk/s1600/couch_UJ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgz47OcMx6YSrxowKccVFliEV5d6Rp4W5oLruFckBnEXizIuc8xSren4bbCGGn61Pd_wrkt8sadNrlF6IYXQuP3mF_lwMj1HEdXP9QQCWMsY1UJufLr-7w94xDLpYQMBndH64acGIBtk/s320/couch_UJ.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, I have Union Jack cushions (& MacLean Tartan in the back)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></o:p></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Demonstrating
Strength, Honour and Commitment Through Tradition</span></h3>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love or hate the Monarchy, they get noticed. They know <i>how
</i>to get noticed and quite frankly, they know how to throw a bloody good
party - think Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the latest Royal Wedding. (again
great revenue streams for many)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmBTbKdigPzSctR39qUzV_lXUb6VUZvxtz4oeHNHbB1RGzxkM3wKdQzlkDIVbgn2h7cN0ZBYmFCHd9UjJ_72x4yZ7qXpsZUEdQC3IovhH8UsIlJaa3KL7zErYdn3eHlti_FOaBsgPmC0U/s1600/Invite_PA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmBTbKdigPzSctR39qUzV_lXUb6VUZvxtz4oeHNHbB1RGzxkM3wKdQzlkDIVbgn2h7cN0ZBYmFCHd9UjJ_72x4yZ7qXpsZUEdQC3IovhH8UsIlJaa3KL7zErYdn3eHlti_FOaBsgPmC0U/s320/Invite_PA.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speaking of parties: My invite to the Palace Holyroodhouse - My Second Dinner with Prince Andrew</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is something comforting in tradition; and despite a few hiccups, Queen Elizabeth has been an outstanding source of pride,
strength and honour. From the time she
was a young girl and driving an ambulance during WWII to her unwavering
commitment to duty and pretty much always being "on", the Queen is a an
impressive lady. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. A Baby Means Hope,
Renewal and Promise</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every time a baby is born we feel this way. Every little bundle is an amazing
accomplishment - one to be protected and cherished. A Royal Baby however, means that we have more
pomp and circumstance to look forward to!
More of everything in fact. More
tradition, more merchandizing, more British tourism, more trips abroad. Like it or not, the Royal family also
generates revenue and creates jobs both at home in Jolly Ol <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region> and
abroad. I am sure that can still learn more from the marketing genious that just might be </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">"by accident.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">"</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking for more social media, marketing and communications
banter</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt;">? B</span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">e sure to follow my blog: </span><a href="http://newworldmarketingandcommunications.blogspot.ca/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://newworldmarketingandcommunications.blogspot.ca/</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-76752892182299536522013-07-08T18:56:00.000-03:002013-07-08T18:56:24.376-03:00<h2>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Cost of Ignoring Employee Engagement </span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are countless studies on employee engagement and the
value that engaged employees bring to your organization. Despite this however, not enough employers
are actually taking the steps to engage their employees and there is a direct
correlation between the cost of ignoring employee engagement and embracing
it. The cost is high. Blessingwhite said it best in their findings:
'engaged employees stay for<b><i> what they can give.</i></b> Disengaged employees stay for<b><i> what
they can get. </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPg0PjAZ7cyy_KohPUdAt6O0ZDpk-JNBwf8TNbMqSFN1soSQjE0zDGZQVVoLDwF-dffyqHCOx7UfUUN1dYItkNHIZTO4TeFB9_klXgOMnmn4hXA1J_4NGudKR4efJQqBqPZEsmaFan8w4/s1600/engage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPg0PjAZ7cyy_KohPUdAt6O0ZDpk-JNBwf8TNbMqSFN1soSQjE0zDGZQVVoLDwF-dffyqHCOx7UfUUN1dYItkNHIZTO4TeFB9_klXgOMnmn4hXA1J_4NGudKR4efJQqBqPZEsmaFan8w4/s320/engage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to<a href="http://www.gallup.com/strategicconsulting/163007/state-american-workplace.aspx">
Gallup</a> research, companies with low employee engagement have higher safety
incidents, more sick days, higher turnover, more quality control issues, etc.
all costing the U.S. between $450 billion to $550 billion each year.
Health-related costs alone to the employer in a suffering company are $11,709
versus $4,395 for a company that is thriving and has engaged employees. The research has also shown that companies
shedding jobs are more likely to be the ones with disengaged employees, a
signal that publicly traded companies don't necessarily want to give.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The research also shows that publicly traded companies with
high engagement, enjoy higher earnings per share. So, what are some tips to engage
employees? Here are 7 tips to implement
immediately: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Live up to
promises - Managers can greatly contribute to the engagement cycle by living up
to promises and commitments made to their direct reports. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Fully utilize your
talent - All too often Managers pigeon hole their employees or quite frankly
don't understand the employee's full experience and education. Taking the time
to understand an employees full skill set and actually using it will go a long
way to engaging that employee.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Career Development
- Be sure to include career planning and development for your employees. Again taking the time to know and understand
the employee's interests will help guide you and the employee toward a solid
future.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Regular Meetings -
Have regular one-on-one meetings with your direct reports. Arrive on time and pay full attention to the
employee. Arriving late, leaving early,
taking phone calls during the meeting, reading email or perpetually cancelling
the meeting, without rescheduling sends a strong message that you don't care
about that employee.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Inclusion - Seek
our input and ideas from your direct reports.
Show that their input matters and that they can contribute to the bigger
picture. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Publicly recognize
your Employees - Don't wait for a special occasion or the end of a project to
recognize the contribution of your direct reports. Use internal communications tools, social
media and mass email to thank employees on a regular basis. Ensure that the recognition is genuine and
heartfelt. Insincere thanks is worse
than no thanks.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Give them Authority - Demonstrate that you believe in
them by giving your senior team the opportunity to fill in for you when you are
out. Leaving no one in charge signals
that you either can't trust your direct reports or that you are insecure about
leaving someone else in charge. If you
have several people as direct reports that are at the same level, take turns
leaving them in charge. </span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are just some things that you can do to engage your
employees. There are many others. What
would you suggest a company do to ensure employee engagement?</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-56625140307433894622013-05-14T09:21:00.001-03:002013-05-14T09:21:28.393-03:00<h2 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6 Tips Social Media Marketers Can Learn from Astronaut Chris
Hadfield</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What does a former Air Force Fighter Pilot and Canadian
Astronaut know about marketing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, as it turns out, a lot!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Chris Hadfield has done an outstanding job at generating interest in the
current space program while also showing that astronauts are not just very smart
people, but fun, clever and very much connected to community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take a look at this list and you will
learn very quickly that @cmdr_hadfield is a model of inspiration.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b>Know Your Community</b> – Perhaps one of the biggest
challenges for any one wishing to market themselves or a brand is to actually understand
your community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This of course is
slightly complicated when your community is literally the entire planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite this significant challenge, Commander
Hadfield has successfully connected with people around the globe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has found the common denominators
that connect humans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this case,
curiosity and the desire to learn.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b>Use the Channels Your Community Prefers</b> –
Commander Hadfield understands the power of the moment and reach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twitter has been one of his most
powerful communication tools and it shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With nearly 800,000 followers, he can share photos, thoughts
and memories as he experiences them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b>Show Your Personality</b> – If there is one thing
that really stands out about Command Hadfield, it is his personality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His smile and genuine warmth leave you
with one response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You like
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You want to listen to him and
learn from him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course not
everyone has the same personality as this famous astronaut, but being genuine
is the real take away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t
fake being genuine – not over the long term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you care about people, people will care about you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember, people on both sides of the
transaction fuel brands.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw4pXyOx-5kEm1Q4tkzIuGupeXncqdGNkOTdlFtnwhCHv2wOfntY-m7FPScbs31re2BHVAbMXQmNG-pXWABrX9K54V9s41dokIfOfZJb8-6wO6LU4c2fh1nyEGfHLFo4hJf2zCgiWHIjo/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-05-14+at+9.19.41+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw4pXyOx-5kEm1Q4tkzIuGupeXncqdGNkOTdlFtnwhCHv2wOfntY-m7FPScbs31re2BHVAbMXQmNG-pXWABrX9K54V9s41dokIfOfZJb8-6wO6LU4c2fh1nyEGfHLFo4hJf2zCgiWHIjo/s320/Screen+shot+2013-05-14+at+9.19.41+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Answering Questions from International Space Station on May 6, 2013</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b>Maximize Your Environment –</b> Whether or not you
are on the International Space Station in zero gravity, knowing how to leverage
your environment is key.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Share
photos that are interesting and unique to your audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Find something that the average person
just doesn’t have access to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do
pod casts, interviews and more using the tools of trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Show how they fit into your world and
how you use them. Don’t just keep them in the background.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><b>Realize That You Can’t Do It Alone –</b> Despite
being extremely genuine and popular, Commander Hadfield has realized that he
can’t connect with his community alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He partnered with Bare Naked Ladies front man Ed Robertson to write a
song about the International Space Station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has reached out to schools, media personalities, science
centers and more to do live appearances while in space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While he is the center of attention, he
realizes that it really isn’t all about him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is sharing more about others and his environment, than he
is about himself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span></span><b>Be Consistent – C</b>ommander Hadfield is consistent
in all that he does and this has reinforced all of his messaging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, people are interested in
the man AND the International Space Station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People now have a vested interested in this mission.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Note: this is a slight variation on a blog post that I wrote for the Salesforce Marketing Cloud blog last week. </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-60388627099224915542013-05-07T14:30:00.000-03:002014-10-20T14:51:34.589-03:0010,000 Hours and the Pursuit of Subject Matter Mastery <style>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(My blog has moved. Please <a href="http://www.taylormadecanada.com/blog" target="_blank">click</a> here for my latest posts.)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers the theme of becoming a subject
matter expert, or master, was discussed at length. According to Gladwell, the time it takes to become a master: 10,000 hours. The number of
hours was not really the point. The real focus was that it takes practice and lots of it – 10,000 hours
to be exact. While some might find
that daunting, it really isn’t when you break it down into realistic and
measurable chunks. For example, many
of us can achieve this status in just five years. In the bigger picture, that is really not a big deal. To get you started on your journey,
here are 5 ways to help you get there.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <b> </b></span><b>Focus</b>:
To become a master, or a subject matter expert, you need to focus. Like my mother always told me: focus on
what you want. You can be a
jack-of-all-trades and a master of none.
While she didn’t coin that phrase, she got it. So, select an area that you enjoy and that you want to
focus on and become an expert or master.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> <b> </b></span><b>Find a Mentor</b>: Seek out someone you respect and like in your field of
choice and look to that person as a mentor. If you follow the formal route of asking, be sure to do your homework about what such a relationship is like, what
you can provide each other and what the expectations are for each of you. Be up front about all of this and
ensure that you are both on the same page about expectations and results. Know when its time to move to a new
mentor. Mentors can also mentor by watching and learning what they do. Or, just asking advice on occasion. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b>Surround yourself with excellence:</b> Work in the best environment you
can. If you can’t work where you
want, volunteer! There are often
tremendous opportunities to work with some of the best in the business in
fundraisers, festivals, not-for-profits, etc. Never limit yourself.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">4.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b>Read and Research</b>: Don’t just execute, be sure to read and research about best
practices and work in your area of interest in different industries, different
regions and emerging trends.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjzeAW4hl46MfYjX8moL83FUbX8wI1jeBve9tBw73Lob0-9S46NpOKC3BM6XhhSxGvMtx4EjJB9xgJhTkyuA1hFuIEf_57wssdD7_fQ77J9GEsLOGTgL5xjyfrf86fMPL81iKOI2dHVoQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-05-07+at+10.15.12+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjzeAW4hl46MfYjX8moL83FUbX8wI1jeBve9tBw73Lob0-9S46NpOKC3BM6XhhSxGvMtx4EjJB9xgJhTkyuA1hFuIEf_57wssdD7_fQ77J9GEsLOGTgL5xjyfrf86fMPL81iKOI2dHVoQ/s320/Screen+shot+2013-05-07+at+10.15.12+AM.png" height="320" width="318" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">5.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b>Don’t Stop</b>: Remember that reaching 10,000 hours is not the goal. It is about practicing your craft. Reaching 10,000 is a milestone and one
to celebrate, but as practitioners, experts or masters, we have an obligation
to continue our learnings and to practice, practice and practice. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, be willing to share your knowledge and mastery with
others. For those seeking mentors,
let’s be ready and willing. If you
were lucky enough to be mentored, it is an experience that you never forget. It
is invaluable. Giving that
experience to another is priceless.
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">What are your thoughts on mastering a subject? Do have experiences that you can
add? </span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-40570156904205219052013-05-06T16:37:00.000-03:002013-05-06T16:37:16.518-03:00There is NO Such Thing as Over Communicating<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <span style="font-size: small;">world of <span style="font-size: small;">marketing and PR in particular is very interesting <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">to say the least<span style="font-size: small;">. Having worked in these fields for longer than I want to admit, <span style="font-size: small;">because it will give away my age, I <span style="font-size: small;">can tell you I have pretty much seen and hear<span style="font-size: small;">d it all. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Naturally people tend to think of PR <span style="font-size: small;">people as Spin Doc<span style="font-size: small;">tors and they would be..well..mostly right. However, I would <span style="font-size: small;">argue that is not always the case. In my role as the head of PR in a few org<span style="font-size: small;">an<span style="font-size: small;">izations, I always wanted to tell the truth, be timely and be truly transpare<span style="font-size: small;">nt. This <span style="font-size: small;">does not always go over well. However, it is my belief that the truth will come out and being the <span style="font-size: small;">one to tell the story first sets t<span style="font-size: small;">he tone and build<span style="font-size: small;">s trust<span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Perhaps my favourite story though has got to be one CEO that told me we were "over communicating." Unfortunately I am not making that up. I have to say t</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">hat I was rendered speechless. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Over communicating? Seriously? People cite communication prob</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">l</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ems all the time and n</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">e</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ver once in my entire ca</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">reer h</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ave I heard someone say it was because a person</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> or organization was "over communicating</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">." In fact, case studies, best practices and real</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> lif</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">e accounts of well..everything speak about the need to communicate constantly and that there is no such thing as over communicating. Sa</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">dly that organization still suffers from that belief. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA7ailaUZ_Duy3wpDJAqpUYV3dTPKIJRf7odVLp97I9KK8Zc2zf5vXhfdVBnYzxN5y_pMHxmS9_6xleVMU2D3phnv_FZJSHgpfz-ZeQg26w4OMmoqzawSZ8o3UJJFmJEcwvX__DJfHPtY/s1600/photo%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA7ailaUZ_Duy3wpDJAqpUYV3dTPKIJRf7odVLp97I9KK8Zc2zf5vXhfdVBnYzxN5y_pMHxmS9_6xleVMU2D3phnv_FZJSHgpfz-ZeQg26w4OMmoqzawSZ8o3UJJFmJEcwvX__DJfHPtY/s320/photo%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">In fact, articles like <a href="http://hbr.org/2013/05/creating-the-best-workplace-on-earth/" target="_blank">Creating the Best Workplace on Earth </a> as presented <span style="font-size: small;">by</span> Harvard B<span style="font-size: small;">usiness R<span style="font-size: small;">eview advocate the need for constant communication<span style="font-size: small;"> stating: "<span style="font-size: small;"><i>We maintain</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>, though, that executives should err on the side of transparen</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>cy far more than </i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>their inst</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>incts suggest. Particularly today, when trust levels among both employees and customers are s</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>o low and background noise is so high, organizations must work very hard to communicate what's going on if they are to be heard and believe<span style="font-size: small;">d." </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">While PR practi<span style="font-size: small;">tioners c<span style="font-size: small;">an advise, <span style="font-size: small;">we <span style="font-size: small;">don't create <span style="font-size: small;">ma<span style="font-size: small;">gic. So, the best be<span style="font-size: small;">t is to remain true to <span style="font-size: small;">your pro<span style="font-size: small;">fessional <span style="font-size: small;">values and follow the Communicators<span style="font-size: small;">' Check<span style="font-size: small;">list as noted above. What w<span style="font-size: small;">ould you add to this list?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">(<span style="font-size: small;">Note: those receiving this blog by email, remember to <span style="font-size: small;">visit the blog for <span style="font-size: small;">the full experience :) </span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> <em><span style="font-size: small;"></span></em><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="st"><em></em></span></span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-62036843639779553872013-04-25T00:31:00.000-03:002013-04-25T00:37:44.028-03:003 Easy Ways to Build Your Twitter Following the honest Way<style>
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<h2 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3 Easy Ways to Build Your Twitter Following the honest Way</span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The honest way you say?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, let’s just start this one out with a little bit of
controversy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t believe that
people should buy Twitter followers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I just don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, that
being said, here are 3 ways that you can work to build your Twitter followers
in an honest and organic way.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span>Follow people – sounds straightforward doesn’t
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look for people that are of
interest to you and follow them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Follow people they follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And finally, follow people that follow you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reciprocation is a powerful thing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span>Complete you profile – many people, including
me, will rarely follow someone when there is no profile information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would only do this is I know the
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, I want to know
about who you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just because we
are connecting on-line, doesn’t mean that I don’t want to know you and learn
about who you are and what makes you tick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span>Participate in relevant Twitter Chats – This is
a great way to connect with and meet new people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1iSbPbuNfIExfLsBkzQ-7f8WttfGm7WIBqxxVnC8wLNabf1H5vQ9vWYkOKjWxzhYtZkKXf-MVVxyobQP-0PQ4daR8Iq7P0hmtFKSAKT-crafLREnNqqDW8KSQE0n1QuJvgLYaWjPtAM/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-04-25+at+12.21.36+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="55" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1iSbPbuNfIExfLsBkzQ-7f8WttfGm7WIBqxxVnC8wLNabf1H5vQ9vWYkOKjWxzhYtZkKXf-MVVxyobQP-0PQ4daR8Iq7P0hmtFKSAKT-crafLREnNqqDW8KSQE0n1QuJvgLYaWjPtAM/s320/Screen+shot+2013-04-25+at+12.21.36+AM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tweet from a recent Twitter Chat</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These are just three very easy ways to build your Twitter
following.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are many
more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would you add the list?</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-88110786666765490112013-03-26T20:15:00.001-03:002013-03-26T20:15:12.204-03:00<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's 2013 People!
Women CAN be Wives, Good Cooks AND Business Tycoons!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seriously! When did
being a good cook and a wife mean that you can't be anything more? Someone forgot to tell me this. I would suggest that many women that have
very successful careers were also not told that these conditions were in
place. I have dug out my manual, which
was created when I was born, and I can't find this anywhere. Maybe there was an update that my parents
forgot to insert.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But seriously, this really isn't a laughing matter. As a married woman, who can cook and likes to
cook, I am also someone who takes my career seriously. I believe that I, along with all women, can be
more than what one label suggests. I
didn't think that this was something that we had to discuss and debate in 2013,
but I guess it is. This morning a hot
topic on both the local and even national news was the fact that a politician,
while at an event last weekend, made a comment after tasting some food prepared
by a young lady stating: 'you will make
someone a good wife someday'. Nowhere did
I hear him say that she would be chained up and forced to stay at home and that
she could not go to school to become whatever she desired. No, of course not! </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CJVOQ4p4EnnCmPjzJToJ4CSIozGerDP4MIXVsMkYiFiSIZ266x_x2uoslHR_0ic-z9BUrVyGK3PgD7j4hYCZxLq3NP8S7xBHYAfiNVXx84ZAVcy4kv0LMlTrClzLAqQoW7yLaRjlfRU/s1600/Marissa+Mayer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CJVOQ4p4EnnCmPjzJToJ4CSIozGerDP4MIXVsMkYiFiSIZ266x_x2uoslHR_0ic-z9BUrVyGK3PgD7j4hYCZxLq3NP8S7xBHYAfiNVXx84ZAVcy4kv0LMlTrClzLAqQoW7yLaRjlfRU/s200/Marissa+Mayer.JPG" width="137" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who forget to tell Marissa Mayer that she is a wife, so she can't lead Google? <br />Photo courtesy of sfgate.com</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the spirit of openness and transparency I must declare
that I not only know this politician, but I also like and respect him. I also admit that my gut reaction to hearing
this story was: COME ON! Serioulsy!..Seriously..this is news? So, I did question my reaction to ensure that
it was not biased by the fact that I know him.
After soul searching and self-questioning, I went back to my gut
reaction: this is ridiculous. And, I will state that I would be the first to
cry foul if this was a true case of dismissing women's rights! I am still miffed to think that women in <st1:state w:st="on">New Brunswick</st1:state> are not
protected by law in terms of getting equal pay. (See my blog post: <a href="http://newworldmarketingandcommunications.blogspot.ca/2013/03/women-person-under-law-celebrating.html">Women,
Persons Under the Law</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just exactly when did things get so carried away that
someone can't make a statement about being a wife without people thinking or
believing that is all a woman can be? After
all, this is 2013 AND we live in what is supposed to be a progressive part of
the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know that women can be good cooks, wives, mothers,
gardeners, etc. and be very successful in their careers. Some such women that come to mind include:
Marissa Mayer, Hillary Clinton, Madeline Albright, Margaret Thatcher, and
closer to home, Dominique Dionne of Xstrata Nickel, and Lisa Lisson of FedEx
Express Canada to name a few. Mind you I have not tasted any of these ladies
cooking, but you get the picture and that really is NOT the point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rather than jump on "this" bandwagon, let's rally
around real issues like: pay equity, ending the culture of rap, and the
labeling women. As women, let's not let
others label us and limit us. Let's not
join 'that' conversation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are my opinions and I would love to hear yours. </span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (for those receiving this by email, be sure to check out all my posts at: </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://newworldmarketingandcommunications.blogspot.com)</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-62962928621331322712013-03-16T14:28:00.000-03:002013-03-16T14:28:26.725-03:00<br />
<h2>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 Etiquette Tips for Twitter & Social Media in General</span></h2>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the things I get asked, probably on a daily basis, is
how to use social media. I think that
the first thing people have to remember is that it is "social" media
and not just media. So, in order to be
social, as the good Dr. Sheldon Cooper would tell us, "social convention
says" we first need to remember that we are interacting with people. Yup, people!
Sure we are using computers linked to networks that enable us to reach people
around the world, but the purpose is to connect with people at some level. </span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When using social media think about how you interact with
people on a daily basis. Hopefully you
make good use of the etiquette that your parents taught you as a child! Good manners never go out of style. So, here are 7 tips to get you started on
Twitter:</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. <b><i> Develop
relationships rather than focusing on numbers.</i></b>
Far too many people want to have large networks thinking it
demonstrates that they are popular or something. This is not necessarily the case. Keep in mind that some people "buy"
followers. I have strong personal feelings
against doing this, but that is a whole other blog post! </span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. <b><i> Follow people who
are of interest to you.</i></b> Seek out people
who are in your industry or stand for a cause that you believe in. Follow them.
Listen to them and ask relevant questions.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hwxzHetX-GKwzH_mDvaScVTxCHOWfuS-YSVQUOtA0MwAj43TxfjNePUAOoINcLyB5jP8I6TJqLqqj8C30h2SL8xwBvaiGdHwdVksJtzWHTzgEg5hgmWRsCyJ5MfiFwQfT2PLntRevZQ/s1600/Etiquette.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hwxzHetX-GKwzH_mDvaScVTxCHOWfuS-YSVQUOtA0MwAj43TxfjNePUAOoINcLyB5jP8I6TJqLqqj8C30h2SL8xwBvaiGdHwdVksJtzWHTzgEg5hgmWRsCyJ5MfiFwQfT2PLntRevZQ/s1600/Etiquette.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Image courtesy of www.love-that-etiquette.com </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. <b><i> Don't follow
people just to increase your count and then unfollow them</i></b>. Again, think quality
versus quantity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. <b><i> Complete your
profile.</i></b> <b><i> Complete your profile.</i></b> Yes, I said this twice. Remember, you are building
relationships, so tell people who you are.
What do you do? What are some
hobbies? What City do you live in? Show
some personality.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. <b><i>Use a photo of you
for your avatar</i></b>. Whatever you do, don't leave the egg avatar as your graphical
representation. Instead, choose a photo
that will help people recognize you should they have the opportunity to meet
you in person.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. <b><i>Be polite</i></b>. This should go without saying, but sadly it
does not. Say thank you to people. Be nice.
Don't spam people. Don't auto
Direct Message them selling them something.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. <b><i> Engage.</i></b> Don't just talk at people talk to them. Ask questions. Respond to people's questions. Offer help.
Ask for help.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are just some tips.
There are many more. What ones
would you add to the list?</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(If you are receiving this via email, do visit my blog at http://newworldmarketingandcommunications.blogspot.com)</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-6656515842537705142013-03-06T19:58:00.001-04:002013-03-06T20:32:44.655-04:00<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-CA; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Women, Persons Under the Law</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Celebrating women and our accomplishments is one of things
we think about when we think of International Women's Day or during
International Women's Week. Or, at least
I certainly do. This year however, I have
thought about how difficult things remain for women in many parts of the world.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It really wasn't that long ago that women became
"persons under the law" in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>. In fact, it was less than 100 years. In 1927 Emily Murphy and four other Canadian
women asked the Supreme Court of Canada if the word "persons" in the
British North America Act of 1867, included women. It answered "NO" in 1928. A year later, with the help of our then Prime
Minister, MacKenzie King, the Famous Five appealed to the Privy Council in <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region>. In 1929, they announced that "...yes,
women are persons...". Can you
imagine? Less than 100 years ago in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region> I would
not have been considered a person, by law!
I can't imagine that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rights of women advanced a snail's pace faster in the <st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place>
with the federal woman suffrage amendment, originally written by <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/id/CE002374.html">Susan B. Anthony</a> and
introduced in <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/cgi-bin/id/A0813228">Congress</a> in
1878,being passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate in 1919. It was
then sent to the states for ratification. Again, only slightly better than <st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flash forward to 2013 and unfortunately we see some shocking
statistics and behavior. In my province
alone, pay equity is "still" a voluntary initiative. Yes, you read correctly. Paying women 80 cents for every dollar that a
man is paid is acceptable. And, yes this
is 2013. So, a woman can have the same
education and experience, perhaps even more and doing the same job as the man
in the next office, but she is paid less.
Twenty percent less. And, yes
there are cries to have more educated and qualified people working in our
province. While our lifestyle is nice
here, there are a couple of provinces adjacent to us that offer the same
quality of life. How do they treat women
in those provinces?</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW3AX4UbWln4nG1807d1X1-LG4o1jZZmjNlXv1QWwWSu96J28_4jlgwP7fjamkmlME6ecJbC-g_GLuzAC7F-XbSSmpHzWSrGg-drizXdF8v2VOmnSPZDQ7v9J3WGJZqVq3489s5COLTEw/s1600/women's+week.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW3AX4UbWln4nG1807d1X1-LG4o1jZZmjNlXv1QWwWSu96J28_4jlgwP7fjamkmlME6ecJbC-g_GLuzAC7F-XbSSmpHzWSrGg-drizXdF8v2VOmnSPZDQ7v9J3WGJZqVq3489s5COLTEw/s320/women's+week.JPG" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo courtesy of: <a class="irc_itl" data-ved="0CAQQjB0" href="http://www.publicinterestdesign.org/2013/01/17/women-for-women-opportunity-center/" id="irc_hol" style="background-color: #222222; color: #1122cc; cursor: pointer; line-height: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;"><span id="irc_ho" style="color: #d6d6d6; margin-right: -2px; padding-right: 2px;">www.publicinterestdesign.org</span></a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I am not pleased that women are paid less in New
Brunswick and our government chooses to think it is acceptable, there are far
more appalling behaviours occurring around the world. Late last year Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani
girl wanting to be educated was shot in the head only because she was a girl
and she wanted an education. Amazingly,
she survived and while it will be a very, very long road to some form of
recovery, she wants to continue to learn and be educated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In December we were all outraged by the brutal rape of a
23-year woman on a <st1:city w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:city>
bus. The story was gut-wrenching. Despite wanting to live and fighting to live,
the injuries were just too serious. And while <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> was outraged by the incident,
just four weeks later another woman travelling by bus to her village was taken
to a building where she was raped by seven men.
Just four weeks later!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many stories such as these. They do make me stop
and think about being a person under the law. I am a person under the law in my
country, but not in all. In my own
country and province, according to government, it is acceptable that I would be
paid less than my male counterpart if my employer chose to do so. Even when we have laws of protection, they
may or may not be enforced. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether or not you are a woman or a man, what is your take on this? And, does it even matter to you that International Women's Week starts on Friday?</span></div>
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</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-58825766345094647182013-02-28T19:43:00.000-04:002013-02-28T19:43:21.722-04:00<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no "I" in Team. Or, is there? </span></h2>
<div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently lost a dear friend who was by far the best team
player I have ever met. It got me
thinking a lot about teams and the real behaviours that should be celebrated.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While technically there is no "i" in TEAM, I think
we do a disservice to ourselves and our younger colleagues by not talking more
about the role of the individual team player.
In business school and in the workplace, there are both covert and overt
displays of competition and ambition.
Don't get me wrong, these are not bad things. Some of us are competitive, but not in the
sense that we feel we need to compete with others. I, for one, compete with myself. I push myself to better. I am also ambitious. However, I learned early in my career that
competing with others doesn't make me a better person. I also learned that ambition at any cost is
not worth it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe my thinking comes with age, or experience as I like to
think of it, but I don't believe that entirely.
I know many 20 somethings that already know this and they are better for
it. So, that being said, I try to
practice each day to be a good team player. I say "practice" because
sometimes and some days I am better at it than others. I believe it is important to take
responsibility for my role in the team and therefore, I do see "i"s
in team. Here are some of my favourites:</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Image courtesy of superknowledgebank.com</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. "I" will
do the best job I can, each and every day.</span></div>
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help my colleagues to do the best job that they can do each day.</span></div>
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find ways to be innovative and bring that to the team.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. "I" will
work hard to be inclusive, respectful and supportive of each member of my team
without bias.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. "I" will
take actions that will make the team, not just myself, look good to the
organization.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. "I" will not take actions that will hurt or
hinder the team, because ultimately I know that it will have more significant
ramifications.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are just some I practice and try to live by each day. Do you agree or disagree? Are these actions that we should promote as a part of being a good team player? What would you add to the list?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-56828010116657162752013-02-15T07:32:00.000-04:002013-02-15T07:32:05.942-04:005 Tips to Take to Your Social Media Listening and Engagement to the Next Level<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(this post originally appeared on: http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/11/5-tips-to-take-to-your-social-media-listening-and-engagement-to-the-next-level/)</span></i><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s say you’ve taken the plunge into the social media listening and engagement pool, but now what? You really want to leverage your listening and engagement tools to have maximum impact and ensure that you meet your corporate objectives. Here are 5 quick tips to help you do this: </span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Focus on your Key Performance Objectives (KPIs) </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most important point to remember is that your social activities, including your listening and engagement, should be tied directly to your business goals. A good way to stay on track is to stay aligned with your KPIs. Staying focused will ensure that you and your organization benefit the most from social initiatives. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Focus on Lead Measures Versus Lag Measures </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also referred to as “business drivers,” leading indicators measure the actions that your Engagement Team, aka your Community Team, does for the company’s medium to long-term success. They show what is currently happening and serve as an early warning sign that change may be needed in a particular area. As a result, your Engagement Team will play a key role in recognizing and escalating trends or issues before they become significant. </span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Commit to Having the Right People </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVWZOhX3__88yBHdXVoPCYteskRhEhseBQaLpgeYyN2BthY8UCc7tiv2q1kRaEXvi49FpXQtIUKaTVOI-hL5VwpLKY_OLh_oMz1_tmHuf7cZsoVP4Nglo_RqGFW2Z8JMn443jO1_gUiw/s1600/Engagement+Quote.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBVWZOhX3__88yBHdXVoPCYteskRhEhseBQaLpgeYyN2BthY8UCc7tiv2q1kRaEXvi49FpXQtIUKaTVOI-hL5VwpLKY_OLh_oMz1_tmHuf7cZsoVP4Nglo_RqGFW2Z8JMn443jO1_gUiw/s320/Engagement+Quote.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /><span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Listening and engaging is not for the faint at heart. It takes people who are passionate about people, and passionate about being social. Make the commitment up front to have individuals who love people, and working with people and who have an eye for the big picture. Equally important is having people who not only know how to interpret KPIs, but understand the importance of timely, relevant reporting. Finally, your team should know the right balance between when to be serious and when to be light-hearted. After all, we all need to have fun while we work. </span><span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Understand the Importance of Reporting </span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regardless of which tool you are using, if you can’t generate useful reports for your management team, you are in trouble. Members of your Engagement Team are excellent resources to generate such reports. They are intimately familiar with the various conversations taking place. Make sure that they know and regularly prepare brand, competitive and research reports. More importantly, ensure that your management team is getting the reporting that they need. </span><span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Recognize the Power of Community and Influencers </span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Building a loyal following of customers, prospects, and influencers is more important than many realize. While building relationships takes time, when done properly an organization will not only learn about preferences, ideas or needs of its communities, but the community itself can become your greatest advocate. Advocates and influencers are particularly powerful when they share your information, value proposition, and message on your behalf. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Focus on your community and you will realize quite quickly you come full circle and be back at focusing on your KPIs. </span></span><br />
<br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-7211745611747768332013-01-06T15:55:00.001-04:002013-01-06T15:56:51.942-04:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Using Social Media To Rally Support for Those in Need</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">In the social media, marketing or communications industry we
all talk about social media in terms of how it is about people, about
relationships really. Despite
talking the talk however, we often don’t walk the walk. It is the reason why
many of us have to constantly “poke” our colleagues to remind them what social
is really all about. It is not
about push communications. It is
not about one-sided advertising.
It is about individuals and human-beings who have basic needs.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Over the last couple of days I have witnessed wonderful
examples of how social media is used with people in mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, when done correctly we notice
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often times there is an
emotional or gut response to the situation. (Thanks for this idea Krista.)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Here are two examples from just the last two days that have
resonated with people in my local community:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange;">Finding a cherished pet</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">If you are a pet owner, or as I like to think of it, a pet
parent, your dog or cat is not just a pet. My dog, Seven, is an important part of our family. We would be devastated if he went
missing. That is why I always
share status updates that I see about missing pets. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Just this week one of my Facebook friends posted about Maui,
a lovely dog that has been missing since New Year’s Eve. I am not alone in doing this. I saw this status update reshared
numerous times by other friends. I
just hope she is found.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkz8KiRSE4UH8X5o9u2PLBOaDiM2iP1pnLV8maQ3ZJ8z81pEgZJG3owEAtIqDLHfOqOHxMHaoMkKSxhs7d3ceUY8YDZUSFBPAszMILl5Ioh_hg4kCtIRSfG3_ac8pGfuKBOhUdfEkedA/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-06+at+3.33.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkz8KiRSE4UH8X5o9u2PLBOaDiM2iP1pnLV8maQ3ZJ8z81pEgZJG3owEAtIqDLHfOqOHxMHaoMkKSxhs7d3ceUY8YDZUSFBPAszMILl5Ioh_hg4kCtIRSfG3_ac8pGfuKBOhUdfEkedA/s200/Screen+shot+2013-01-06+at+3.33.08+PM.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have seen Maui, please call 453-0887. She went missing in the Hanwell area.</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It Takes a Community</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">J</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">ust Friday night, and the second time in recent months, a
restaurant in Fredericton caught fire.
While this in itself is unusual for our City - thankfully don’t have
many fires - it is not unusual to see how our community reacts. Within hours, efforts were under way to
hold a fundraiser for the staff.
And, just how were organizers getting the message out? Well, Facebook of course. This is yet another example where
Facebook friends rose to the occasion and shared and shared. People care enough to want to make a
difference. They took the old
adage of you tell two friends and they will tell two friends and so on to a new
level with Facebook. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjur4lvjSQWCJjyySZ_KLiVJyqYazxPgeuzY5al46lWgiasddWjqhEJFQVSNJ5FEdjD7ZHoTnUtNs0gaTXjMNcxpEkO0phPMGtr2HbtTI8BOnwnpCVjXR8AKOlJ0zXJFR06WMQq8gsk4PI/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-06+at+3.42.00+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjur4lvjSQWCJjyySZ_KLiVJyqYazxPgeuzY5al46lWgiasddWjqhEJFQVSNJ5FEdjD7ZHoTnUtNs0gaTXjMNcxpEkO0phPMGtr2HbtTI8BOnwnpCVjXR8AKOlJ0zXJFR06WMQq8gsk4PI/s320/Screen+shot+2013-01-06+at+3.42.00+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fan of the Garrison Ale House? They wouldn't be who they are without the staff. So checkout: </span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.facebook.com/FundraiserForGarrisonStaff"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.facebook.com/FundraiserForGarrisonStaff</span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Prior to social media and our fantastic digital networks we
have developed, we did not have the same reach and capacity to make a
mark. I truly love how people
leverage social media to accomplish what was intended. I will say it again. It is all about people and it is all
about relationships. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">How are you leveraging social media for the betterment of others? We would love to hear your story! </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-3101730874291450562012-11-27T11:22:00.002-04:002012-11-27T11:41:14.368-04:00You Can't Be Serious - Status Quo in Social Media and Life - The Dodo Bird is Calling<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: orange; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You Can’t Be Serious - Status Quo in Social Media and Life -
The Dodo Bird is Calling!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s face it; saying that things should or could remain
status quo is like burying your head in the sand and hoping that when you come
out, things are exactly like you left them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, why exactly do people think this?</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the last few days alone I have heard status quo
mentioned in terms of a community and the call for it not to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard it referenced in terms of
social media ‘still’ being a fad – talk about having your head in the
sand!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just today Gini Dietrich
spoke of status quo in her great post <a href="http://spinsucks.com/communication/seven-metrics-pr-should-track-to-gain-respect/">Seven
Metrics PR Should Track to Gain Respect.</a> Gini being Gini though, knows that status quo is not the answer.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Folks, status quo is just not possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think about it this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Say you decide that you are going to
continue to do things the way you always have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You say, if isn’t broken, why fix it? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good philosophy many would say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps at one time that were true, but
let’s look at a good examples of status quo:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dalhousie, New Brunswick, is a beautiful little town in
Eastern Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a mill
town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a wealthy little
town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You noticed I say,
“was”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As times changed, industry
standards changed, the mill and its processes more or less stayed the
same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On top of that, there was no
aggressive action to bring more industry or new industry to the town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A once thriving town is now but a
shadow of itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mill was
torn down earlier this year, as so many other buildings have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where the mill once stood is now a vast
expanse of emptiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was my
hometown, so seeing it disappear goes way deeper than words can express.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj3ZV2Qa4caJsx7ZaxT1c6dU0-8p5fO8S9NFjQt4piGY-EHIGNgniUxiCxqEgCpzb6OyZ6z_A6YWUtT9Ozy-8ROW3PqX9gODNfgeKVsib9MJJj7nmZptKCVaOVBFV6japV6qZoJQ7fa0/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-11-27+at+11.15.39+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTj3ZV2Qa4caJsx7ZaxT1c6dU0-8p5fO8S9NFjQt4piGY-EHIGNgniUxiCxqEgCpzb6OyZ6z_A6YWUtT9Ozy-8ROW3PqX9gODNfgeKVsib9MJJj7nmZptKCVaOVBFV6japV6qZoJQ7fa0/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-11-27+at+11.15.39+AM.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Image compliments of kidzworld.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are of course theories that prove that organizations
(also organisms) can only go on “as is” for a certain period of time before
needing to change or innovate to survive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2012/09/throw-your-life-a-curve.html?awid=4968130757548044664-3271">S-curve</a>,
which has been discussed by many great minds, discusses just this and if you are
into some interesting theoretical discussions, do click on the hyperlink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My point though is that we can’t just stick our heads in the
sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we do, the world still
goes on around us and change occurs with or without us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, to avoid going the way of the dodo
bird, we need to continually change and innovate.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, the question now is:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>do you agree or disagree?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you promote status quo and survive?</span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-71121479448698390102012-11-26T06:55:00.002-04:002012-11-26T06:57:14.301-04:00<br />
<b style="color: orange; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.2;">Reputation Management, the #1 Reason the C-Suite Needs to Listen to Social Media</b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A good reputation is priceless. Once damaged, it can be both
difficult and expensive to reverse — and in some cases, impossible.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the onslaught of corporate scandals a decade ago there
were significant changes in corporate governance, including the introduction of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes%E2%80%93Oxley_Act">the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act </a>in 2002. These wide-sweeping changes were introduced to rebuild
consumer confidence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back then, our biggest worries were about what was said in
the latest press reports. Add social media to the mix and a whole new
dimension has been added to protecting corporate reputation. The
question then becomes, What is your company doing to monitor and protect
your reputation in the social space?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More recently, there has been a momentous change in how
corporate reputation is affecting the bottom line. In fact, <a href="http://www.eisneramper.com/board-directors-risk-survey-0511.aspx">a 2011
Eisner Amper Board of Directors survey</a>, found that reputational risk had
actually overtaken regulatory compliance as their number one concern.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_A8GYYe8CeayNW-wttDxEJSmwZckpuVkz7xCsGVihBuJUhvQHC8sRl3lzCh758M5H9Tb1P7QMl3s0b-uibgGuoKV7K5cDtrEZBW2dyQUCc0kZlOTEDvKzeJTRk6E2FYQywclhi0hWANs/s1600/reputation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_A8GYYe8CeayNW-wttDxEJSmwZckpuVkz7xCsGVihBuJUhvQHC8sRl3lzCh758M5H9Tb1P7QMl3s0b-uibgGuoKV7K5cDtrEZBW2dyQUCc0kZlOTEDvKzeJTRk6E2FYQywclhi0hWANs/s320/reputation.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Image: Thesportsblog.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To underscore just how important reputation has become,
RepuStar launched its Corporate Reputation Index, calculated by the Dow Jones
indexes in late 2011. Corporate governance experts now recommend that you
manage reputation the same way you would manage any other asset that you have.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what are the critical social media conversations that the
C-Suite could start with? Here are four that can really shed some light
on corporate reputation:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0pt;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brand
mentions (both the volume as well as the sentiment. Are people being
positive or negative about your brand?</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Names
of your executive, board of directors other high profile public facing
employees.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discussion
around key initiatives, events or activities.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Safety
and health issues.</span></li>
</ol>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Has your enterprise company listened to conversations around
its brand and reputation? Now’s the time, before you have a reputation
management crisis on your hands.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Note: this is a blog post that I wrote for my day job
and it originally appeared on http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/07/reputation-management-the-1-reason-the-c-suite-needs-to-listen-to-social-media/
on July 20, 2012) </span></div>
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-19720638128299738442012-11-25T10:46:00.001-04:002012-11-25T10:47:11.651-04:00<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>My Top 5 Buzzwords from 2012</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As yet another month, and year quite
frankly approaches its conclusion, I wanted to do something a little different
for my post. I wanted to take a look a
few buzzwords. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know, those little words or phrases
that appear and just seem to bore into the brains and vocabularies of every
person with a voice, a pen or a keyboard. A good indication to know when
something has become a buzzword or buzz phrase is when you can’t go an hour
without a colleague using it or you read it in blog posts regardless of where
you turn. Sometimes, the reaction is a
physical twitch that emerges without control.
You will see someone have some sort of physical reaction and wonder,
what the heck is up with him? That would
be the reaction to overused buzzwords.
It happens to all of us, so we should at least have fun using them.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Interestingly enough a lot of these
buzzwords appear to have started in the social media space and transcended to
the rest of the business environment.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, there are a lot more, but here are 5
that I find interesting:</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">Cadence</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This little gem is surfacing just about
everywhere. From the cadence of
accountability to the cadence of software releases, “we” as a collective, want
to make sure that we march to the same beat I guess and therefore, need our cadence.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It will be interesting to see if this word
follows us into 2013 as a popular buzzword.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMVBW9TU-YNodzSSGeBV6Jsh9KfgfSoZgWz6R1urQKlafs1lfsT-iWgbolc0LhwwJ-jNo74g45ednJN6njNrhKnt53svHOR09OHK5agPyUP9TPYnPXVVl-hEs9xh5J07KQbEsyvQBhvw/s1600/Cadence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMVBW9TU-YNodzSSGeBV6Jsh9KfgfSoZgWz6R1urQKlafs1lfsT-iWgbolc0LhwwJ-jNo74g45ednJN6njNrhKnt53svHOR09OHK5agPyUP9TPYnPXVVl-hEs9xh5J07KQbEsyvQBhvw/s320/Cadence.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Image compliments for racepoint.com</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2.
Community</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Community is not new. Prior to social, we all thought about
community in terms of where we lived.
Big business who want to be involved in their local
communities often set up Community Relations or Community Liaison Committees, so
this is definitely not new. Then of course
came social where community became something different and much bigger. It was your customers, every possible
prospect, your fans and your influencers to name a few. This is really the exciting part and expanding your horizons to embrace new people, is thrilling.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Engagement</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We apparently all want to engage with
someone: community, employees,
prospects, customers, etc. You name it and there is someone, somewhere trying
an engagement strategy of some sort. Not
a bad thing actually. Being engaged
means that you are participating and contributing, so a good thing really!</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Leverage</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to wanting to engage with
everyone and their dog, we also want to leverage relationships, knowledge,
industry and partnerships. We don't seem
to be leveraged out yet, so let's stay tuned for that one.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Curate</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On top of cadence, community, engagement
and leverage though, I think that the top buzzword for 2012 has got to be
curate. Regardless of which industry you
are entrenched, we all want to tell a story.
We need to curate, or take time to create content or a story worth
telling and sharing. I love the idea and
it sounds somewhat romantic to curate..doesn't it? Am I wrong here? </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, that sums up five little words that are
a part of my everyday vocabulary regardless of whom I am chatting with. What are your top buzzwords for 2012? I would love to hear your thoughts. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh and just one parting thought for
today...why not try to use each of these words in one sentence all together at
least once a day for a week? Who will be
the first to call you out on the overuse of buzzwords? It is a challenge and it could be fun.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-19763147158438656602012-10-08T11:25:00.000-03:002012-10-08T11:27:15.181-03:00<br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5 Things I have learned from Honey Boo Boo</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to confess that I am <i>not</i> a reality tv fan. I have
tried, but I just can't do it. I watched
the second season of Survivor and found it interesting, but then it hit
me. Why am I watching something that brings
out the worst in people? This of course
is my opinion and it is not widely shared.
If it were, these shows would not be on.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then came Honey Boo Boo.
From a few tv ads I had the show figured out and really didn't want to
watch. Something strange occurred
however. Honey Boo Boo started to
surface in conversations regardless of where I was. Whether at work, giving presentations to
potential customers, social settings and more.
People were enthralled. People
were <i>actually watching</i> <a href="http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/here-comes-honey-boo-boo">Here Comes Honey
Boo Boo</a>. So, I confess. I watched one episode of the show. I should add that I watched the show with my
mouth gaping open. I was...I
was...well...appalled. Honey Boo Boo
herself is the sweetest little thing, but really? Is this what entertainment has become? But not all is wasted by the 20 minutes or so
that I watched. Between hearing about
the show and watching the show that ONE time, I did learn a few things:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. People <i>really are</i> drawn to train-wrecks. They don't want to be, but are. The more horrific, strange or bizarre
something is, they need to see it for themselves. I apparently fit that description too. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQ4iVT1aRbGy0DmFXhRqyzPdb4pHxD7fvauZdGsjicwFzipvraAkjyVTvcAArBf2C-ETiJOMsojg7LAr7eBNl1qea1X2u2lUl3AxA61eCTK3iDry3nB4BSE4UbZiqy3QLNcgTJwKdNmU/s1600/honey-boo-boo-child-beauty-queen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQ4iVT1aRbGy0DmFXhRqyzPdb4pHxD7fvauZdGsjicwFzipvraAkjyVTvcAArBf2C-ETiJOMsojg7LAr7eBNl1qea1X2u2lUl3AxA61eCTK3iDry3nB4BSE4UbZiqy3QLNcgTJwKdNmU/s320/honey-boo-boo-child-beauty-queen.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Honey Boo Boo herself. Photo from Babble Blog</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. I will be politically correct and very Canadian by saying
that we (people in this case, not Canadians only) love to see people living
different lifestyles so that we can critique them and then feel better about
our own decisions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Everybody wants
their 15 minutes of fame, but if you can find your niche at the right time, you
have it made. Would this show have made
it 15 years ago? Likely not. But with the ever growing craziness of
so-called reality shows to showcase people at their worst, this obscure family
found out that their little cutie pie struck a cord with American audiences and
jumped on that bandwagon to leverage it to the max. That is what probably irks people most - that
they didn't think of it first.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Just when you
think that you have seen it all, something more wild and crazy surfaces. Who would have thought that a little beauty
queen and her family would get a nation going?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. And then finally,
maybe people just want to escape. They
want to get away from all the seriousness of economies tanking, job losses, and
the need to make important decisions. Maybe,
just maybe, watching Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a distraction - a needed
distraction.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, I am always interested to hear if you think that
Honey Boo Boo is a distraction, or something else.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308879273578572000.post-81033603178511945372012-09-27T19:27:00.000-03:002012-09-27T19:27:27.414-03:00<br />
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Supreme Court of Canada Ruling on Facebook Anonymity is one
for all to watch</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, the<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1262984--supreme-court-rules-girl-can-protect-her-identity-in-facebook-defamation-suit">
Supreme Court of Canada ruled</a> that a young <st1:place w:st="on">Nova Scotia</st1:place> girl can remain anonymous in her
fight against cyber bullying. The
decision was made with the hope that she would not be victimized all over again
for fighting back against bullies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The girl has been struggling to find out who created a fake
Facebook profile using her photo along with posting false 'scandalous' highly
sexualized activity. Facebook provided
the IP address, but the internet service provider would not provide more
details without a court order. Well,
they have it now. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1p34_ivVuywVLRw0TmxSFbuiKl4wPpqwTcFljVHat-QRzDobmtqh1yEi9iZLTQFuRLgLvU-9fSO3Skh5LDNZuvvWHJH1_AKMGjmduSjODlY03H7_gc-Fz3Vg01dNJnyqGg2o3YMtPh8/s1600/Scales+of+justice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW1p34_ivVuywVLRw0TmxSFbuiKl4wPpqwTcFljVHat-QRzDobmtqh1yEi9iZLTQFuRLgLvU-9fSO3Skh5LDNZuvvWHJH1_AKMGjmduSjODlY03H7_gc-Fz3Vg01dNJnyqGg2o3YMtPh8/s320/Scales+of+justice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is an extremely important case to watch as the
legislative process has been slower to move on social media issues as outlined
in <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6308879273578572000#editor/target=post;postID=5537605488820240792">Social
Media and the Legal System - Another Story.
</a>This is a victory for every person and/or business that has been
harmed by the careless and ruthless nature of people hiding behind fake
profiles. Until now, there have been no consequences. Victims have been left powerless and perpetrators
have had a false sense of security. </span></div>
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This is a precedent setting case, so stay tuned for more commentary and
detailed analysis as this story unfolds.</span>
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