This article was featured in Social Media Today

Social media followers are not baseball cards, they’re not meant to be collected. They’re value does not increase with time, in fact, they have no monetary value whatsoever.  You cannot sell them. The number of people you have in your network is not an indication of how profitable you will be. Why then do we work so hard to collect them?

In my book If Social Media is a Game, These are the Rules: 10 Rules for Building a Profitable Social Media Strategy, I discuss the importance of measuring your engagement rather than the size of your network.  Contrary to our cultural euphemisms, size does not always matter.

If you follow the implicit rules of social media, the numbers will likely follow.

Social media is relational, not transactional. People must first be sold on you, before they can be moved from a relational environment (social media) to a transactional environment (your website or e-commerce site).

Here are 5 performance indicators and tools to measure your engagement: Continue Reading

“But, that’s just me.”

It’s an expression that often excuses irrational statements. If a person must qualify a statement by recognizing that it may very well be wrong, they quickly lose credibility.

What it says to others about me when I use such statements :

- I acknowledge that my statement is probably incorrect, but I choose to buy in to it anyway.  ”Just because” is not a consideration that leaders weigh when making decisions.
- I am lazy.  I won’t be bothered with the work necessary to uncover requisite facts, data, or other objective information before making my statements, judgments, or decisions.
- I don’t really care what others think or the quality of the input they may provide; there is no room for discussion, my mind won’t be changed.
- I believe that others should also buy into my conclusion based on my (very scientific) feelings – because, hey, it’s me after all – not because it’s well thought-out and carefully constructed on facts.

If you desire credibility, don’t ask others to buy into something “just because.”  Don’t put your credibility on the line with a hasty and ill-informed expression.

Be thoughtful. Be intentional. Make statements after considering objective information, then follow up with more subjective but logical conclusions. Finally, ask for input. It demonstrates that you’re interested in arriving at the best conclusion based on all of the information. It’s what leaders do.

People buy into those who speak rationally and who eschew whimsical statements.

But, that’s just me.

Continue Reading

There is a cultural thought-pattern afoot that encourages us to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, and to place our primary efforts on strengthening those areas where we find ourselves “deficient,” so as to become “well rounded” individuals.  In many cases, it’s a theory that encourages mediocrity and it prevents individuals from becoming exceptional specialists.

Some context: Surgeons did not always specialize in specific areas of medicine as they do now.  There was a time when they studied general medicine in order to be “well rounded” practitioners; that they may have a degree of knowledge for any affliction or malady that may present itself.

Then, the practice of specialization and hyper-specialization was introduced in hospitals.  Now, surgeons begin their studies in general medicine and, as they mature in their profession and discover in what area of medicine their natural affinities lay, they focus their studies and refine skills in a specific area so as to become exceptional.  For example, a cardiothoracic surgeon will abandon undeveloped skills in neurosurgery, and almost every other area of medicine unrelated to their specialty, in favor of multplying their skill in cardiothoracic medicine. Continue Reading

Editorial Note: This article has been published on Social Media Today and has become a trending article on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, check it out at: http://socialmediatoday.com/joshleatherman/331973/8-essential-rules-social-media-and-business

Social Media is a complex and evolving medium that many businesses struggle to figure out.  Few find quantifiable success with it, many have failed, and most have yet to truly form a social media strategy.

Failure is often a result of using social media before taking time to understand it, including asking the questions why do people engage on it and what are the unwritten rules that govern its use. It’s free exposure, and often organizations fail to intentionally plan their message as they would for an expensive ad campaign.  It’s like trying to run before one has learned to walk.  Consider this: In 2010, Nielsen and Facebook did a joint study on the effect of social media for enterprise using the benchmarks: Ad recall, brand awareness, and purchase intent.  Social media had significantly better results than traditional marketing.
Whether an individual, a non-profit, or a business (B2B or B2C) – social media strategies must be well thought out and planned prior to execution. Questions must first be answered, primarily the question of “WHY?”  ”WHY are we getting into social media?”  And, “WHY will this motivate individuals to find out more about our organization.” Before every post, “WHY will our followers find this post valuable?”

Social media is permission based engagement – it is the most effective way to engage people and receive measurable results.  When someone gives an organization permission to speak to them, the organization’s messaging must be “on” 100% of the time. It’s like dating, an organization must woo, cultivate, and meet the needs of their network.

The following rules apply to almost every social media user who seeks to develop a platform, client acquisition, increased sales, and better brand awareness.

1. Social media is relational, not transactional, according to social media innovator Michael Hyatt.  Probably the most important rule for any individual or organization seeking to expand exposure and acquire new customers through an online presence.  Keep the “keys” to the social media account away from the Sales department. Traditional marketing has no place in social media.  Overtly trying to sell a product or service will quickly damage a social media reputation (reputation is quickly damaged and long to repair).  Consumers no longer need to jump through hoops to end their relationship with an organization – no more signing up on the do-not-call-registry, no more trying to figure out how to get off a direct mail list, no more trying to figure out how to say “no” to a good salesperson – they simply click an unfollow button and, *poof*, an organization becomes vapor in their social stream.  Resist automated responders that thank individuals for following. Continue Reading

My guest editorial on Michael Hyatt’s Intentional Leadership blog has been shared over a thousand times on social media sites and by email. I hope you’ll take a minute to read more about how you can integrate batching into your life to increase productivity and decrease distractions, fatigue, and burn-out. View my post here: http://michaelhyatt.com/how-to-use-batching-to-become-more-productive.html Continue Reading