Increasing Employee & Client Engagement

Let me share why I feel Twitter is so powerful… I hope this solidifies in your mind why you should engage in Twitter.

The true power comes in the ease and ability to share information with your followers and passed to your contacts followers and so on…  Not all followers are created equal, but they all have the ability to pass their endorsement to their following on your behalf without solicitation.  You do not know who is following them, so treat all followers with respect.  Do not judge the book by the cover. 

So the power of syndication comes with the ease of sharing information…  Lets say you have 500 followers.  They are tuned into what you have to say.  You send something of value.  Lets say 10% or 50 of them pass it on & forward it to their following.  Lets make it easy and say each person who forwarded only had 100 followers.  Your message just reached another 5000 people.  That is only if the followers had 100, but there are many with thousands.  2K, 5K, 10K, 25K etc.  If the right people forward your info., it can go viral… very quick.   Just think if that scenario happens one more time.  You can reach tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions with just a few clicks.

As you may of read my Social Media Cocktail Example, then lets use Twitter as a cocktail party and see the power of the interaction…  This party has 15 million people who all are in different conversations.  Every time some one you follow posts info, it shows up in your  twitter stream.  The most recently updated is always at the top.  Just like your facebook wall.  So everytime you view your stream you are getting a snapshot.  You may be walking into the middle of a conversation or your chance to start one.

In this cocktail party, there are clusters of conversations…  Again, you do not have to have approval to follow someone (as long as their tweets are public, some do only have private tweets that require approval to see), so you can follow anyone.  You get to poke your head into them by looking at the stream of conversations by the people you follow and you can decide to engage them. 

One cluster may be talking about Marketing and as a marketing expert you may want to share your thoughts, ideas or an article that may provide value to the conversation.  So you want to be interesting and add value.

Sticking your head into a conversation is not only PERMISSABLE it is ENCOURAGED.  So get out there and find & listen to some conversations and stick your head in.

Other Twitter Articles You Might Enjoy:
Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z

Today is Motivational Friday

This is the mantra that I have lived by most of my life… It is something my dad preached to me. My parents have a huge round table and we called it the “winner’s circle”, almost like the Knights of the Round Table was for Arthur & Lancelot at Camelot.

When you come to the winner’s circle…  you have to bring your “A” game. Leave all negativity before you take a seat. I have had this posted on my mirror and wall and want to share it with you.

The Winner is always part of the answer; The Loser is always part of the problem.
The Winner always has a program; The Loser always has an excuse.
The Winner says, “Let me do it for you”; The Loser says, “That is not my job.”
The Winner sees an answer for every problem; The Loser sees a problem for every answer.
The Winner says,” It may be difficult but it is possible”; The Loser says,” It may be possible but it is too difficult.”

When a Winner makes a mistake and says,” I was wrong”; When a Loser makes a mistake and says,” It wasn’t my fault.”
Winners say “There is a better way”; Losers say “It’s the way it has always been done.”
Winners learn from their mistakes; Losers believe the only way to avoid failure is to never risk or try anything new.
A Winner makes commitments; A Loser makes promises.
Winners have dreams; Losers have schemes.

A Winner says “I will do it”; A Loser says “I will see what I can do.”
Winners say,” I must do something”; Losers say, “Something must be done.”
Winners are a part of the team; Losers are apart from the team.
Winners see the gain; Losers see the pain.
Winners see possibilities; Losers see problems.

Winners believe in win/win; Losers believe for them to win someone has to lose.
Winners see the potential; Losers see the past.
Winners seek to learn, Losers learn how little they know.
Winners are like a thermostat; Losers are like thermometers.
Winners choose what they say; Losers say what they choose.

Winners use hard arguments but soft words; Losers use soft arguments but hard words.
Winners stand firm on values but compromise on petty things; Losers stand firm on petty things but compromise on values.
Winners follow the philosophy of empathy: “Don’t do to others what you would, not want them to do to you”; Losers follow the philosophy, “Do it to others before they do it to you.”
Winners make it happen; Losers let it & then watch it happen.
Author Unknown.

What do you need to do to think and be a winner.

After reading my first article about Twitter… http://bit.ly/m1QXb and agree that you need to look into Twitter.  Then you set up your bio based on my second article… http://bit.ly/ojb20    Here are some terms and Twitter basics to help you understand how to communicate.

First, You subscribe to people’s informational message feeds and they subscribe to yours.

A Message/Post – known as a “Tweet” – just another name for the message. It is a short message in 140 characters or less. There are 3 types of messages.

1. Message To a Bunch of People Publicly – This is like a broadcast email
Examples
· Share an Article - Check out this article http://bit.ly.com/
· Share An Event – Great Atlanta Bloggers event coming up
· Share Breaking News – Michael Jackson Died today…

2. Message/post To a Specific Person Publicly- This is a @mention that all of your followers see. It publicly endorses or recognizes someone.

@swfrost – great seeing you at the tweet up last night – All my followers would see this message.
@toddschnick – I enjoyed your high velocity radio show

3. Message To a Specific Person Privately – Direct Message (DM) – just like a private email

D @seanenelson – Lets get together for lunch
D @stephaniealloyd – Loved your blog post about…

RT – This is exactly like forwarding an email. You are passing on someone else’s message and giving them credit.

Example – RT @marnafriedman – just finished self publishing book, the small business that could
*** (this means she sent this out to her followers, and since I follow her, I saw this and then forwarded it out to all my followers)

# - hashtag – this is an aggregator of content – a way for people to search for common group, content or event.

Example - I am head of the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup Group. I just created the hashtag #atlblog so every time anyone talks about it in a message (tweet) they put that on there. Like a flag. So if anyone wants to go see all the messages posted about it, they can search for #atlblog and see every message about it.

Example - ATLANTA BLOGGERS - If you have a blog & live in Atlanta - come to our meetup Sept 2nd - http://bit.ly/44Hnc #atlblog

Go to http://search.twitter.com and type in #atlblog and see all the chatter about that event (there could be hundreds of people talking about the event, but if they do not use that # hashtag, then you will NOT see those, you will only see those who talk about it and use that #atlblog

The most popular # hashtag would be #followfriday… type that in and you will see thousands pop up.

Go to Twitter and start listening…  This is just the basics.  Because if you can understand this, when we get into strategy, creating content, create a following it will start to click

Other Twitter Articles
Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw

After reading my first article about Twitter… http://bit.ly/m1QXb and agree that you need to look into Twitter.

If you are not set up on Twitter, then you will need a username or referred to as your Twitter handle… 
Mine is @chadrothschild  - I just did my first name and last name.  Make it easy, memorable etc. 

I would advise against the underscore, but depends on your situation.   My first one had an _ between my name and it did not fit with the rest of my URL’s  and got rid of it.  It is not standard.  I would not use multiple numbers in your username either.  However, there are no hard and fast rules. 

If you are tweeting for your company..,  OK to use company name, but try to make it as personal and human as possible.  Maybe put picture of person like @comcastcares  has. 

Bio – This is very important.  I determine who to follow based on this information.  It is a very short synopsis, so use it wisely.  I put mine in word so I could add the symbols and then pasted it into Twitter.

I like people who put their location in there…  I don’t mean EARTH, Global Nomad, but put city and state in US.  Yes we live in a global economy, but Social Media is based on authenticity.  By not putting somewhere makes it feel like spam or your hiding something.  The more info you put to make it feel real & personal  the better.

I really like to connect with people in proximity.  I can let them know about events etc

URL – absolutely have, so people can connect with you further.  Use your blog, Your company website, your linkedin profile,

Put a photo…  This is important to me.  I want to see who I am communicating with.  It makes it feel more human and personal. 

 
As with everything… for everything pure about social media, there are spammers and people who try to take advantage of it and you have to make sure you separate yourself from them.

Other Twitter Articles

Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw
Twitter is Most Powerful in Social Media Syndication - http://bit.ly/m1QXb 

I have designed Friday to be Motivational Friday…  I was going to do Motivational Monday, but decided Monday is too LATE.  You have to go to bed Sunday Night ready for Monday.  The truth be told, you have to go to bed every night ready for Monday.  That is because it is a state of conscience.  It is not like a light switch like most people think.  It is a state of being.  It is a blueprint.  It is a designed plan for your life.

Other than it being one of my favorite things to think about, do and live…  It is a passion I want to share.  Some of my most popular posts are about these encouragements

Wake Up Eager - http://bit.ly/3oxIEy

Personal Branding Is More Important Than Ever - http://bit.ly/sc1m1

Change Your Script Re-channel Your Foucs - http://bit.ly/jZDJu

Hopefully, my readers will embrace it…  We will cover ways to engage your self concept.  How to be leader.  Path of winners.  How to make a difference.  Everything in between.  If you have any suggestions, throw those in the comments.

Twitter could be the most powerful social media tool…
It has the ability to create conversations better than any other with complete strangers. However, Twitter is the most easily dismissed. 60% of people who get on Twitter get off. It is probably the easiest platform on the surface, but by far the most misunderstood. I have done panel discussions and workshops and 80% of questions surround Twitter.

People either love it or hate it. There doesn’t seem to be an in between.

Most people I talk to think Twitter is a lot about nothing…
Hopefully, I can dispel that. I believe Twitter is becoming the most powerful method to syndicate your message.
· It is one of the best prospecting tools 
· It encourages interaction.
· It is one of the best ways to promote events.

Let’s start with the reason for being…
Twitter was created to compete with texting. Short bursts of information. It is a micro-blogging service. Posts of 140 characters or less. Facebook and LinkedIn have status updates that were added due to Twitter. They function in the same method.

Why would someone want to be on Twitter?
· Connect with friends, colleagues, prospects
· Keep people informed of what you are doing
· Be a trusted resource
· You can share content you create
· Share & discover news
· Share & discover events
· Customer Service
· Find out what people are saying about you, your company or brands.

This is a little background for Twitter.  Over the next couple of weeks we will dig deep into Twitter and why you have to cement yourself into its power and more importantly how to use it EFFECTIVELY.

You can follow me at @chadrothschild 

If you do not use or like Twitter please let me know why in the comments.  If you do use it, please share which ways you feel it works best.

Other Related Twitter Articles
Twitter Set Up Basics - http://bit.ly/ojb20
Twitter Basics – Terms & How to Communicate - http://bit.ly/hFn4Z
Twitter’s Power Comes From Ease of Sharing & Interaction - http://bit.ly/JIBjw

No matter the product, service or whatever you are tackling… Take it to the edge. Take a look at the last posts  

Are You Worth Mentioning http://bit.ly/1dJeps   
Are You Memorable http://bit.ly/1fIJRx

Your product or service needs to be an extreme that is so different… that people sit up and go I can’t believe what I just saw.   It was the coolest; it had the sleekest design or whatever it takes to fill that headspace in the mind of the consumer to separate you from your competition.

An important step is to plan on how to market it before you build it…  If you have not already determined if it is going to be on the edge, remarkable and so great that people will talk about it then don’t do it.  Take the extra time to create awesome packaging, create an unbelievable design.   Find a unique way to get people to take notice. 

Seth used the example of a bank that wanted to really bring to light that it had more ATM’s than any other bank.  So he suggested they shuffle a couple of 100 bills in the 20 slot through out the entire ATM system.   It reminded me of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory. Can you imagine the reaction that people would have by getting $100 by surprise?  They will be excited, and they will share with their friends. 

Design, What is it good For?  Design is a much more important element than we give it credit for.   Seth Godin talks about time.  You can buy accurate time for about $5 or so.  So a watch that is $10K is just as accurate as the $5 watch.  So it is not accuracy of time that gets people to buy a watch.  It is the style, design.  The product is the marketing.  It is so cool or different that people take notice and comment about it.

I really noticed this on my wife’s wedding ring…  We had a solitaire that was a very nice size and a band for a long time.  It wasn’t the biggest diamond, but almost colorless princess diamond.    I did months of research finding the perfect diamond for my budget.  It was beautiful in its own right but no one really remarked on it. 

On one of our anniversaries, I wanted to really make her ring stand out.  I went to a custom jewelry maker and had a setting made with Baggett diamonds to surround the original stone.  We took a lot of time in the design (several weeks worth of molding the prefect design before we actually cast it) so that it would maximize the beauty of the diamond I had originally bought.  My wife was so excited when she saw it.  She absolutely was taken back by it.  We cannot go anywhere where someone doesn’t comment on it.    It is not the size or the cost, BUT the design.

So don’t just be different, be extraordinarily monumentally unique…  That is the only way to win.  If you do not, then you are just a commodity.   People do not deserve to take notice.   You have to give them reason and earn it.

Be clear, I used a product example but this is for anything.  Design of a website, design of whatever you want people to notice.

I was watching the launch of Google Wave…  http://wave.google.com/  One of the interesting comments I heard and something I felt worth mentioning and repeating.  If email were built today, what would it look like.  Email has been around a long time and it has remained the same basically.  Well technology has changed so much while email has remained archaic.  Look at Wikis, new collaboration tools, things that would incorporate beautifully into email.  Well Google decided to take the stance of reinventing email in the 21st century programming.

Take a look at your business and if it was created today in the 21st century what would it look like?  What new things would be added?  What wish list would you add?  What would you change?  What would need to make it happen?

The greatest thing is it doesn’t have to be expensive to change…  Cost is not the factor.  It just has to be to the edge better.   It could be the smallest change or a complete reinvention.  Something worth getting excited about. 

What can you do to the design of your website, your packaging, your service that will make people take notice.

Other Related Articles
Are You Worth Mentioning http://bit.ly/1dJeps   
Are You Memorable http://bit.ly/1fIJRx

I wanted to share a speech that I did at a Toastmaster’s Humorous Speech Contest that I won.  It may or may not be funny, I will let you be the judge. 

It is not business related as I spoke about My favorite subject; the joys of being a dad. 

I hope you enjoy listening to my wierd little world…as much as I did telling.

Click This Link chad_humorous_090805

So if you are actively trying to get people to talk about you and remember you…  then you better make the experience unforgettable (or at least for a short term memorable) so they will tell someone about it.  This requires care and really looking at the overall interaction and dividing it into pieces and make sure every part of it is the best it can be and special enough to share.

Read Last Article - Are You Worth Mentioning - http://bit.ly/1dJeps

There is only so much information you can have in your head…  It is already filled in certain spaces. So just doing things a little bit better is worthless because it will not take enough to move the clutter in your brain. It has to be so different that it opens a whole new area of your brain where it doesn’t compete with anything.

In Dave Balter’s book Word of Mouth he talks about…  how people only have room for 40 products like Casey Kasem’s top 40 list. That list is ever changing. It is either skyrocketing up the charts or spiraling down. That list changes every second.  So your goal has got to be to stay on that list.  It requires sensational, substantial & sustained effort.

Seth Godin used a cool idea about creating a memorable experience…  When a famous person stays at a hotel, that they write their signature on the shower curtain or somewhere like that.  How many people would you tell if you saw your favorite celebrity’s name on the wall and you could tell everybody you had the same room as Tiger Woods.  He would probably be one of the few to really get me excited.  That would be memorable.

Although I know I could never afford a room he was staying in anyway…  I doubt we frequent the same hotels or rooms for that matter.   Although with my name Charles Hudson Rothschild IV, I have had people think I am part of a line I am not.  I remember they told my asst one time that the presidential penthouse was not available and would I be willing to take just an enlarged suite.   I said, what did you tell them… you told them who I really was right?  I can barely afford a closet, more or less a room…

Now the only thing left to do is build it.   How can you better build your company to be memorable?

Other Related Articles
Are You Worth Mentioning http://bit.ly/1dJeps   
Build It And They Will Come http://bit.ly/QDy4t

We have been talking about whether your content should be free or is it so valuable that you should charge for it.

Free vs Fee Debate - http://trim/r6EE      
Free vs Fee Debate Part II - http://tr.im/rB52

So after reading Seth Godin’s Ideavirus and Free Prize Inside this weekend..  I feel like I went to Italy and was in the enlightenment period or the renaissance. Seth continues to change and re-shape my thinking. I also finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping point.

There are people like Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, and a few others that really push your mind to the edge… There info is not valuable, it is life changing.  If you have read Seth before, you know he talks about being remarkable or worth remarking about.  The product is so great in the mind of the consumer, they just have to tell their friends.  So you can not just create a product or service that is good, it has to be mind blowing.

Are you pushing your ideas to the edge…  Seth talks about not just being a little bit different because there is very little difference in the mind of the consumer and not worth the effort. Your ideas have to be so far from center that they are on the edge or the best are outside the edge. It is so different that people have to notice and talk about it.

Too many of us, probably me included, always try to look at just the staple things to improve…  If I just do it faster, better customer service, more creative, more value, and all of those. First, everyone is trying to do that. So unless you do one of those to an extreme and it is so different that people sit up and go I cant believe what I just saw, then it will still be status quo and invisible. So you just wasted time and effort. The amazing part is that YOU think that you are doing something great, but that doesn’t matter because it really depends on how the customer sees it.

So the Question is “Are You Worth Mentioning?”

Other Related Articles
Are You Memorable - http://bit.ly/1fIJRx
Build It & They Will Come - http://bit.ly/QDy4t