Blog Archives
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 🙂
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://plus.google.com/+TimMushey/about
https://www.youtube.com/user/TimMushey/videos
I will follow back.
Have a FANTASTIC Thursday.
All the best!
Tim
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 🙂
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 profile
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.
The Five Star 5 – Your Brand Can Rock…
If you want it to!
Seriously (my 7-year-old son loves to say that word now)!
Today more than ever, personal branding is incredibly important. The tools are there to stand out in very crowded niches and be game changers helping those who really need it.
I think many people undervalue their worth online in one, or multiple niches that they are working in.
Always remember that people love to work with like-minded people, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and build a kick-a** community of raving fans.
When I think of personal branding, 5 things really come to mind:
- Be Yourself – Don’t try to be somebody that you are not. It rarely works, and you just look silly
- Engage Others -Nothing worse than somebody putting out great content but never engaging their audience
- Be Consistent – One big red flag that stands out for me when I come across a new brand is if their social media content is inconsistent, with long breaks of nothing. If you are in, you are in – show up often with high quality content
- Be of Service – It is not about you, it is about your audience. Once you get the mindset of helping others, it will be a game changer. The money will be there, as long as you don’t focus on it
- Start a Blog or Website With Your Name – Even if you have an existing business, it is a great idea to be branded online with your name as well. What better way to get known online than people being able to stop by “Insert Name.com”!
- What does personal branding mean to you?
- What struggles have you had with your brand, and what steps have you taken to make yourself a “rock star” brand now?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Shoot me an email at TimMushey@gmail.com, or comment below.
Oh yeah..let’s connect if we are not already!
- http://ca.linkedin.com/in/timmushey
- https://www.facebook.com/SellLeadSucceed
- https://twitter.com/TimMushey73
- https://plus.google.com/+TimMushey/posts
- http://www.youtube.com/user/TimMushey
Have a FANTASTIC day 🙂
The Road “Accidentally Travelled”
On the way home from our family vacation this summer, I turned on to a highway that I taken at least 5 times over the past 10 years. Or so I thought 😦
Shortly after I passed through the first town, something did not seem right. The road seemed more narrow, and we were travelling through more small towns, at lower speeds. Finally after about 45 minutes, I said to my wife, “check out where we are on maps.com”.
Sure enough, I had taken a wrong turn, and we were going in a totally different direction. I was disappointed in myself. I had delayed the arrival at our hotel and “pool time” with our kids before bed. From that moment on for the next hour or so, I tried to speed a bit to make up time. Travelling with a seven and one year old, I wanted to get them out of the vehicle and playing as soon as possible.
Then my wife told me just to relax and enjoy the journey, it was no big deal. We would get there when we get there.
From there on, the rest of the ride was fun. We saw some towns we had never seen before, had supper at a “classic” diner, and even saw Santa Claus – yes Santa Claus in August! We passed through a small town that had a large statue of Santa right on their main street. The kids really loved getting pictures with him in the middle of summer. The sunset was gorgeous, and my wife took some fantastic pictures to help remember our extended travel day.
What I took away from this is things don’t always go as initially planned, but you have to embrace the “turns and twists” in the road. When I first got online four years ago, I thought I had to know exactly where I would be going before I launched a first blog and website. I have come to terms with when I launch something new, it may look totally different six months or a year from now, but I just have to get started. Putting myself out there will be the key to success, not trying to perfect something ahead of time in my head that is unproven.
- Have things not gone according to your exact plan online?
- How have you adapted to the changes that have come your way?
- How did your feel initially, and how do you feel now about the “online path” you are on?
If you feel “stuck” or are having trouble with any aspect of your online business, I am here to help.
Heck if you need a “gentle nudge” just to get started please let me know.
I have probably had many of the same feelings and experiences that you are having now.
Feel free to email me at: TimMushey@gmail.com
Or reach out via social media at:
- LinkedIn http://ca.linkedin.com/in/timmushey
- Twitter https://twitter.com/TimMushey73
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SellLeadSucceed
Enjoy the rest of your week!
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 “stuck”, 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 – “Your Sales Playbook” 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 Paul’s 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 “regular run” 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 “the blogging thing” yet, and was not driving traffic to my content.
Then came February 13, 2012 – 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 “What did Castain do”?
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 “shout out” 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 “Paul Castain’s Social Networking Playbook” http://bit.ly/Mw7YOI
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 Paul’s 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, get excited and just keep putting it out there in the hopes that something they do will be the next big thing 🙂
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 – 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!
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 What’s 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, it’s 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 × 500px in height.
- Offer Specials with Pinned Tweets: You now have the chance to feature a specific tweet at the top of your…
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