Category Archives: Social Media
I’m FINALLY on Instagram! How ‘Bout You?
Hey Everyone!
Sorry I have been MIA for so long. I started a new job in February which I LOVE, but I have been very busy travelling and meeting everyone.
I am also working on a new project which is very exciting.
Hopefully all is well with you.
So big social media news from me. I have finally taken the plunge and joined Instagram đ
You can find me at:
https://instagram.com/timmushey/
When I had some time off over Christmas and in to January, I repurposed a lot of my blog content on LinkedIn Pulse. You can see it over at:
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/timmushey
Since we are on a roll connecting today, you can also find me at:
https://www.facebook.com/SellLeadSucceed
https://twitter.com/TimMushey73
https://plus.google.com/+TimMushey/about
https://www.youtube.com/user/TimMushey/videos
I will follow back.
Have a FANTASTIC Thursday.
All the best!
Tim
The Five Star 5 – Just Go “Google” Yourself!
Remember way way back in the 1990’s if somebody wanted to find out what you were all about, they either had to ask somebody that knew you, or ask you directly?
Well this internet thing has been a real game changer for researching people quickly!
I hop on Google several times a month to see what shows up for my name, and the name of my blog.
What I look for is:
- What shows up on the first page (and what may have dropped off)
- What new search results are showing up
- What new “shares” of my content are showing up; where I owe somebody a thank you
- Is there anything negative being that I should look in to
- It’s just really fun to scroll through lots of pages of results as I reflect on my online journey!
Bonus – some people have very common names, so it is a good idea to see where your content may be getting confused with somebody elses’
Your brand can become very powerful, and what shows up on web searches can help big time by providing people with the opportunity to get to know you very quickly.
If what shows up online is all positive, then you are good to go! If you are seeing a lot of negativity, probably time to review your branding strategies and assess some changes for the future.
- When is the last time you “Googled” yourself?
- Were you surprised with some of the search results (good or bad)?
- Are you going to pay more attention to your online search results in the future?
The tools are there to take your game to the next level. You might as well embrace them and build as strong a personal brand possible!
My Two Cents – LinkedIn Do’s and Don’ts!
I have spent a lot of time on LinkedIn lately, and have made many valuable new connections!
Weather you want to improve your LinkedIn presence, draw more attention for your business and brand, or draw “eyeballs” for potential job opportunities, this post is a must for you đ
Think of your LinkedIn profile as being in a tall stack of resumes. What makes you stand out, and why should somebody click and have a look!
I will expand on these points in future posts; but for today, here is a checklist to keep near!
Do…
- Post a picture
- Complete your profile
- Keep your headline simple, and eye-catching
- Personalize your intro when requesting to connect, and say thank you when people accept
- Ask for recommendations
Don’t…
- Post a picture with other people in it, or if your face is not clearly visible
- Cram too much in to your headline (this includes no email addresses, websites or credentials that have as many letters as the alphabet)
- Connect and run! Get to know people and engage with them
- Just post your current job title in the headline – get creative
- Have grammar errors or bad sentence structure in your profileÂ
In LinkedIn, go under “People You May Know” and scroll through.
- What stands out on profiles? What made you click to see more?
- What made you bypass people and keep scrolling?
This should give you the good, the bad and the ugly of what is happening on LinkedIn!
Have fun learning.
Help – I Can’t Find You :-(
I spend a lot of time researching websites and social media profiles to see who is doing a FANTASTIC job providing awesome exposure for their brands.
Unfortunately, not everyone is rockin’ it in this area, and I want to make sure that this critical social media strategy is not overlooked going forward.
One area that really stands out for me is the ease that I can find social media “connect” buttons on a website or blog. I find that my eyes often focus on the top of the page, and many key people that I follow put them there, or somewhere on the first page of content. On the flip side, many people bury their social media connect buttons deep in to their website, and I have to go digging to find them. If I really like what they are doing, I will dig, but typically not – it is much to time-consuming.
What I am going stress next may seem obvious, kind of “Intro To Social Media”, but humour me for a minute.
The more opportunities that you give people to connect with you, the greater the change that they actually will! People tend to be too busy, many are looking for the shortcut, and want the easiest ways to connect possible. So why not give them many opportunities to do so?
Here are some places that I make sure that I promote other places that people can connect with me:
Twitter Profile –Â Insert a link in the space provided under the tag line where you would like people to land and discover more about you. Perhaps your website, blog or even a Facebook Fan page.
LinkedIn Profile – There is a place on the template to include other social media profile links (and links to websites & blogs).
Facebook Fan Page Profile – Under the “About Page”, there are fields to include an email address, other accounts (which includes Twitter), and websites.
YouTube/Google+ Profile – Under the “About Page”, there is a “Links” section. You can add social media and website info there.
Pintrest Profile – There is a place to put your website link, but you can choose another social media link if you don’t have a website or blog
LinkedIn “Thanks For Connecting Note” – Every person that I connect with gets a “Thanks For Connecting” note. I always ask people where else I can connect with them, and provide the links to where they can connect with me. A shout out to Paul Castain for drilling this in to my head early in my online journey! You can check out Paul’s incredible work at http://yoursalesplaybook.com/
At The End Of Blog Posts – This is a great place to remind people where else they can connect with you, and give an email address and/or phone number if they have questions, or heck maybe even hire you đ
On An Email Signature – I don’t recommend listing 8 places that they can connect with you after your name. That would be a little hard on the eyes. But list a couple of places, and change it up periodically; maybe once per month?
On Social Media Channels – Sounds kind of obvious, but you can Tweet “Hey stop by my website”, or post on Facebook how to connect with you on Twitter. You get the idea.
Post Other Ways To Connect On LinkedIn Groups – Some LinkedIn Groups have discussions that allow you to post links to specific social media profiles. If you want to know which groups I am a member of, shoot me an email at TimMushey@gmail.com
Please note – I have not taken the plunge yet on Instagram, Snapchat or other social media sites that the cool kids are on. But I am sure that there are similar features which allow you to include social media & website links (and potentially email addresses).
If you have any questions about improving your link coverage & website/blog visibility, please email me at TimMushey@gmail.com
Or reach out through the following social media channels:
Twitter
https://twitter.com/TimMushey73
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/SellLeadSucceed
(donât forget to âlikeâ to stay connected)
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/timmushey
Google+
https://plus.google.com/+TimMushey/posts
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/TimMushey
Good luck getting your content out there, and remember never pass up on an opportunity to tell people all the places that they can find you.
Real Connections Matter!
I have known the one-of-a-kind Paul Castain for over three years, and had the pleasure to speak with him on several occasions.
Long ago when I started writing, did not have a blog yet, and was âstuckâ, I started to research the sales profession and stumbled across a website. They had a blogroll (list of blogs that they followed) and Paul’s blog – âYour Sales Playbookâ was one of them.
I had clicked on many of the other blogs and moved on shortly after, but something made me dive deeper in to Paulâs content. He even had a link to a music playlist to help pump everyone up! Any sales website that has content on music (one of my passions) is going to get more of a look than the others.
From that moment, I made a point of supporting him on my âregular runâ of the social media circles. I commented on his posts, listened to podcasts, shared content and interacted with him on a more personal level. I really connected with him, and at any moment felt like we could go grab a drink and shoot the breeze.
Over a year and a half passed and I was finally ready to launch my blog in January of 2012. It was a honour early on to have Paul stop by and comment to wish me well. Like many bloggers, my first two or three posts had limited traffic beyond family and friends. I did not totally understand âthe blogging thingâ yet, and was not driving traffic to my content.
Then came February 13, 2012 –Â the day I will never forget.
I walked in to my office like any other morning to check email. I was stunned to see so many new emails related to my blog. My first thought was âWhat did Castain doâ?
http://yoursalesplaybook.com/2-newnewer-sales-blogs-worthy-of-your-attention/
I share this not to be cocky or arrogant, it was just the first thought that came to my mind. I had a feeling that Paul was responsible.
I still remember my heart racing as I realized what had happened.
To this day, no matter how hard I try, I cannot surpass the number of daily page views that I received when Paul gave Bruce Zimmerman and I a âshout outâ on his blog. I am forever grateful for the gesture, and what he has done for me and my business.
I never expected anything in return from Paul. I just wanted to help because of his incredibly content, passion to make others be better and his love for life.
Our relationship has now developed to where I help run his music group on LinkedIn (a subgroup of the highly successful Sales Playbook) called the Daily Music Sanctuary http://linkd.in/1g45rW0 .We try to talk at least 2-3 times per year. I was invited to attend one of his webinars free of charge, and had the distinct pleasure of doing a testimonial for his awesome Ebook âPaul Castainâs Social Networking Playbookâ http://bit.ly/Mw7YOIÂ
If you reach out to others and build relationships you never know what might happen. If your intentions are not self-fulfilling, you might get an incredible surprise like I did that day!
Paul has become my mentor and motivates me to move my consulting business forward every day! As great as the mention was on Paulâs blog, the best part is I now have an incredible friend who will be there when I need him, and that means the world to me!
Ask A Question, Get AWESOME Answers!
When people are blogging, creating products and generally sharing cool stuff with the world, there is a natural tendency to just broadcast, broadcast broadcast!
They have so much to share, Â get excited and just keep putting it out there in the hopes that something they do will be the next big thing đ
The reality is there are probably many other people doing similar things, and that is ok.
Do you want a great differentiation strategy to stand out in an incredibly crowded online marketing space?
Ask your audience a QUESTION!
Seriously.
Just ask them.
You might love the responses.
It could be as simple as:
- What topics would you like me to publish content on next?
- What are you struggling with now?
- A specific question to your niche that you would like to research
Five ways to ask a question are:
- Through a LinkedIn group – Join a group, post a question and engage with the people who comment. I LOVE this strategy!
- On a Facebook Fan Page (or personal page) – Use a great picture with your post to draw them in. People tend to respond better with multiple choice questions on this platform
- On Twitter –Â Utilize hashtags to extend the reach beyond your followers
- Through a blog post – If you already have an audience, go a little deeper with them.
- Through your email list (if you have one) – If your list is HUGE (not a bad problem to have) you could select a smaller group of people, personalize the emails, and make them feel special. If your list is smaller, then you could email all of them the question. IMPORTANT – if your autoresponder system (automated email system) does not allow subscribers to reply directly to an email you send out, change the settings. This has become a big deal, and the ability for people to just hit reply greatly increases the chances that they will respond.
I have learned so much from my audience by posing questions, and am looking forward to posing many more in the future. Like anything else, it takes work, but I would rather ask these critical questions than just thinking I have it all figured out.
If you have any questions related to this topic or anything else content marketing/branding/social networking related, please reach out through a comment or on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.
As always you can email me at:
TimMushey@gmail.com
Not following me on Facebook? Swing by when you have a sec:
https://www.facebook.com/SellLeadSucceed
Have a FANTASTIC day!
The Five Star 5 – Hashtags Are Super-Cool
I love hashtags, especially on Twitter!
I use them to:
- research topics of interest
- find interesting people who are researching the same things as me
- respond to questions that people are asking on Twitter & TV (have you seen Jimmy Fallon’s hashtag of the week question?)
- connect with people locally (I use hashtags to help attract new followers from my geographic region)
But the most fun I had recently, was following a local social media conference via their conference hashtag.
I went to the conference “Friday Night Mixer” but was unable to attend the main conference the following day. Although I was disappointed, I knew that most of the participants were active on Twitter. I looked forward to connecting with people based on their tweets from the break out sessions.
I was BLOWN away!
I made over 75 new connection in 8 hours! Most of them followed back, and I had a blast responding and joining the conversations with those who were tweeting throughout the day.
Still not convinced that hash tags give value?
Time to join the party cause the party is going on without you đ
Top Tips for Brands Looking to Leverage the Twitter’s New Functionality
What do you think about the new changes to Twitter? I enjoyed this post!
So now when you are familiar with the new exciting features of Twitter, time to look at some effective ways of applying them. If you missed my previous post, click here Whatâs New with twitter?
Twitter will start rolling out the new change to Profile Pages to the users over the next few weeks. In the interim, itâs a good time for brands to start thinking about how they will leverage this new . Here are some tips to help get you started:
- Plan Your New Profile and Cover Images: There is no better time than now to begin designing and developing your new cover photo and profile image to meet the new Twitter requirements. Twitter recommends dimensions for header photo of 1500px in width Ă 500px in height.
- Offer Specials with Pinned Tweets: You now have the chance to feature a specific tweet at the top of yourâŚ
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But I Just Don’t Like….
We all have a least favourite social media platform that we are building relationships on.
What is it for you?
- Google+
- or maybe a newer one like Pinterest or Stumble Upon
Take my “Social Media 7 Day Challenge!”
Put the most energy in to your least favourite social media platform for the next 7 days, and send me an email at TimMushey@gmail.com to let me know how it goes.
If you customers and/or prospects are congregating there, you still need to be visible.
Internet sensation Gary Vaynerchuk said it best several years ago,
“If you get invited to several after work mixers over time, which ones do you go to?” (paraphrased)
“ALL OF THEM”!
You don’t want to miss out, especially if you are avoiding one of the “Big 3” of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 