Becky Robinson's Blog, page 31

Don’t Be Afraid to “Newsjack”

Have you ever been at a party where you’re awkwardly standing outside of a group of people who are talking? You want to get involved in the conversation, but you don’t know how. Do you interrupt? Do you wait until you have something to say? Do you say nothing at all?

Chances are you’ve learned the best way to get involved and be heard is to talk about what they’re talking about instead of starting a new topic. So, if they’re discussing the rain, you don’t try to segue into feline AIDs, for example . . .

Well, when it comes to public relations, it’s not much different.

I’m talking about “newsjacking,” folks. What’s newsjacking? Newsjacking, as coined by David Meerman Scott, is “the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story so you and your ideas get noticed.”

Instead of trying to start a new topic of conversation—like, ‘Hey! I have a new book out! And you should cover it!’— you ride the wave of what people are already discussing. An airline kicks a passenger off the plane, you take your customer loyalty expertise and talk about customer relations, as WI author Chip Bell has done. Drama between Congress and President Donald Trump? You use your knowledge of personality science and conflict resolution, as another WI author Nate Regier has done.

Many people are hesitant to inject themselves into certain news stories because they fear they don’t know enough about the subject or they don’t want to get pulled into the mess (especially political stories). But you can ride the news wave without it poorly reflecting on you if you do three things:

Make your own angle. Regier, author of Conflict Without Causalities, isn’t in politics but he does have a background in psychology. Thus, he’s been able to add his insights about leaders, like President Trump, as it relates to his expertise. You have the power to decide on what you want to talk about as it relates to news items. You don’t have to be an expert on the topic directly but you can share your expertise as it relates to the topic. Think about what wisdom you can share and use this as an opportunity to spread it.
Don’t name names. It’s okay to be vague. If you don’t want to risk getting incendiary comments, messages, or tweets because you seemed to skew right or left with your commentary, don’t talk about the situation directly. Stick to the expertise you want to share and then use a general reference to what’s happening currently.
Don’t comment. It’s okay to say those two popular words, “No comment,” if you’re in an interview and it veers to a side you don’t want to go. Remember, you’re in control of the conversation. It’s perfectly fine for you to say, “I am not at liberty to discuss that” or “That’s not something I can speak to,” and suggest what you can talk about.

You can start newsjacking by scanning the headlines regularly and seeing what interests you. If you’re working with our PR team, let them know what newsjacking opportunities you may see or ask to brainstorm some ideas. Newsjacking is a great way to get media attention and increase name, brand and book recognition—with no need to convince someone to cover you.

If you have something to say, don’t hold your tongue. SAY IT!

Scaling Leadership: Building Capability and Capacity

Is your leadership built for scale as you advance in today’s volatile, uncertain, dynamic, and disruptive business environment? Some leaders are capable of rapidly growing the organization while simultaneously transforming it into more agile, innovative, adaptive and engaging workplace. Other leaders, unfortunately, cancel themselves out and seriously limit scale. Which one are you?

This week’s featured book, based on groundbreaking research, shows how senior leaders describe and develop leadership that works and does not, that scales and limits scale. It compares the ripple of growth initiated by effective leaders with the stagnation caused by ineffective ones; and shares effective, proven ways to develop more leaders all around you.

Scaling Leadership

Scaling Leadership provides a proven framework for magnifying agile and scalable leadership in your organization. Scalable leadership drives forward-momentum by multiplying high-achieving leaders at scale so that growth, productivity and innovation increase exponentially. Creative leaders multiply their strengths beyond technical competence by leading in deep relationship, with radical humanity, passion, and integrity.

Drawing upon decades of solid research and experience enhancing individual capability and collective leadership effectiveness with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies, the authors provide an innovative and efficient framework to help you:

Take stock of your own personal balance of leadership strengths and weaknesses
Scale your leadership in deep relationship and high integrity
Proliferate high-achievers throughout your organization’s leadership system
Identify ineffective leadership and course-correct quickly
Transform your organization by transforming leadership

Scaling Leadership is an invaluable tool for executives, managers, and leaders in business, academia, nonprofit organizations, and more. This innovative resource provides effective techniques, real-world examples, and expert guidance for organizations seeking to improve performance, align and execute strategies, and transform their business with scalable leadership capability.

Meet the Authors

Robert Anderson is the founder and Chairman of The Leadership Circle and co-founder and Chairman of the Full Circle Group. Bob has dedicated his career to exploring the connections between leadership, mastery, competence, consciousness, spirituality, and business. He is a true pioneer in the field of leadership development and research. He spends the majority of his time researching, writing, consulting, and speaking around the world, and is dedicated to impacting the consciousness and effectiveness of leadership globally. Bob’s practical wisdom, humility, creativity, humor, and expertise provide a rare and transformative experience with whom he works.

William Adams is the co-founder and CEO of Full Circle Group and The Leadership Circle. Bill has over 30 years of experience as a trusted advisor to CEOs and their teams around the globe. He partners with leaders to unlock breakthrough performance, develop deep leadership capability/capacity, and transformational business results. Bill is known for his practical commonsense approach to sorting through complex and difficult situations and produce exceptional results. He works with leaders as a leader himself that is learning and growing. His clients range from Fortune 100, multi-national corporations to fast growth start-ups, and include some of the best known and respected businesses in the world. Bill holds a Master’s degree in Interpersonal Communication from the University of Montana, and has over 40 years of hands-on business experience having started, run, and sold multiple businesses. He is an avid outdoorsman (currently residing in the mountains of Utah and Montana), married to the love of his life, Cynthia Adams; and together they are actively involved as parents and grandparents to 10 grandchildren.

Praise from Readers 

“Scaling Leadership delivers the most street-savvy, evidence-based and conscious leadership approach on the planet. If you want to future-proof your organization, thrive in the face of rip-roaring change, and cultivate a flourishing world, then drink deep from the wisdom of these pages and then share it with every leader you know.”  — Barrett Brown, PhD, Global Leadership Expert, Author of The Future of Leadership for Conscious Capitalism

“Scaling Leadership takes what is elusive about leadership and puts it in plain sight. The authors expertly unpack how to scale leadership with such clarity that you and your team can apply it day-to-day in operations. If you want to lead your organization to create what matters, then you need to know how to scale leadership, individually and collectively. If you don’t want to be derailed by a rate-limiting leadership bottleneck, at a time when your organization can least afford it, then apply what is in this book. . . . It shows you how to do the most difficult and yet, the highest leverage thing you can do as a leader—let go so you can scale.”  — Gary Colpaert, Vice President Clinical & Support Services, Froedtert Hospital

“Anderson & Adams offer some startling new evidence that the conventional view on what makes for great leadership may not be the whole story. Read, be surprised and get clarity in which way both strengths and vulnerabilities can add to effectiveness.”  — Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter, Research Director, Vertical Development Academy (VeDA)

“Wow! What a book! Anderson and Adams have mined their rich set of data on what makes leaders truly excellent, and they have struck gold. By helping us understand the way that some core leadership strengths actually become liabilities at scale, they solve one of the most important leadership mysteries. Now we understand what the true leadership superpowers are—and we can see how to cultivate them. Scaling Leadership is fascinating, bold, and brave. It will help you shift from the patterns that have helped you in the past to those that will create a better future. I am very excited this book is in the world.”  —  Dr. Jennifer Berger, Author of Simple Habits for Complex Times and Changing on the Job

Learn More

Visit Amazon to buy a copy of the book, or leave a short review of it.
Check out the website to learn more about the book and its authors.
Watch the recent webinar to learn more about the framework for scalable leadership.
Take the free self-assessment to start enhancing your own leadership development.

3 Reasons You Should Consider a Webinar in Your Marketing Efforts

Congratulations! You’ve written your book, you’ve secured a publisher, you’ve made countless edits, now it’s time to market your book to the world. We frequently talk about the benefits of blogging and being present on social media — but what about other forms of media, like webinars? 

Don’t have a published book? No problem! Webinars aren’t exclusively for published authors. If you’re a thought leader looking to connect with other thought leaders or want to get your message into the world in a wider way, webinars could still be a good fit.

Over the years, we’ve conducted many webinars with a wide variety of authors and thought leaders. Here are our top 3 reasons why we think webinars are totally worth the time and investment.

1. Increase your exposure to new audiences

By marketing your event successfully, you’ll easily get your message and name in front of new eyes. In addition to marketing a book or service, webinars also provide the opportunity to share ways that people can connect with you further. Include a slider with links to buy your book, sign up for your email list, or connect to your social channels or website. Easily keep people connected with you, so you can continue to share your messages with them in the long term.

2. Fuel Your Email Campaign Efforts

Part of marketing your book is sending emails to your lists to drum up excitement about your new accomplishment. And, who doesn’t want a bigger list? A bigger list = more opportunities to share your message with the world. Use the webinar as a platform for converting people to your email list. A great way to do this is to offer a free white page, study guide, or other downloadable resources to those who sign up.

3. Boost your Sales

People love to connect with and hear directly from the author. Giving the audience time to interact with you, even digitally, can be a meaningful experience. Because of this type of interaction, we typically see a boost in book sales as soon as a few hours after we conduct a webinar. And, if you interact with your audience during the launch week of your book, you can create even more excitement around your title.

Planning & Marketing Your Event

Using platforms like GoToWebinar or Zoom easily allow you to create landing pages where people can register for your event. You can add graphics or logos to these landing pages to incorporate your branding into the event.

Next, don’t forget to market your event! We recommend sending a few emails to your lists (typically 3 weeks before the event, and another email 1 week before the event) inviting people to register. Create graphics that showcase the webinar speakers or book and share on your social platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are all great options). Include the registration link and use some hashtags to widen your reach. Also, consider if you want to conduct your webinar in an interview format or if you want to incorporate slides to help explain content that is more visual in nature.

On the day of the event, log onto the platform early to ensure your technology is working correctly. This helps remove any anxiousness or nervousness you may be feeling about the event going smoothly. And finally, when it’s time to go live, have fun! The best webinars are ones in which the participants are having fun and sharing their ideas in an interesting and informal way.

If you’re stuck on ideas, here are a few topic possibilities:

Discuss key thoughts from your book, if you have one.
Interview another thought leader or someone that shares your field or area of expertise.
Explaining or discussing another hot topic that you or your organization focuses on.

Whatever you decide to do, planning and marketing a webinar doesn’t have to be taxing.

With over 7 years of webinars under our belt, we’d love to partner with you to share your message into the world. Contact us if you’d like to chat about webinar possibilities!

The Nine Dimensions of Conscious Success

Achieving success is a very personal challenge in today’s crowded, competitive economy. Trial and error is no longer the best option — nor is it even an efficient option. Instead, personal and professional success is dependent on your discovery of the answer to the following questions: What is my best purpose to achieve conscious success? How can I demonstrate high awareness for conscious success? How can I positively differentiate myself from others?

This week’s featured book promises to help you answer each of these questions, and provides a structured approach to accelerate your path to the top. It does so by stressing a conscious self-awareness of what you really want in life.

The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success

In The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success, David Nielson addresses the dilemma of how to define your purpose in life to achieve conscious success. Drawing upon his unique life experiences as a management consultant, executive coach and as an organizational developer at Coors Brewing Company, Nielson outlines a practical process model for you to achieve individual success. He uses real-life stories, humor, and a humble approach that has connected with audiences of all ages worldwide in his consulting practice and in the pages of this breakthrough book.

Nielson builds the foundation of his Conscious Success Model on three pillars and six differentiators. The three pillars are:

Purpose
Self Awareness
Social Awareness

When combined and mastered, these essential starting blocks will bring you fulfillment on their own — but they can also be used to create your unique brand, style, and strong reputation. They also support the structure of six key differentiators identified to create Nielson’s nine-dimensional model for achieving success, which include:

Authenticity
Work Ethic and Personal Responsibility
Listening for Results and Connections
Articulation for Impact
Humor
Gratitude

Each differentiator is a powerful tool (when mastered) to strengthen your brand and your reputation, and to open doors to opportunities that allow you to fulfill your purpose . . . as consciously planned!

The 9 Dimensions of Conscious Success is a must-read for young executives, career professionals, entrepreneurs, or anyone committed to a personal and professional development journey. A critical starting point on that journey is utilizing the interactive Conscious Success Assessment® — an added bonus for readers. This assessment allows you to increase your self-awareness before creating your own Conscious Success Action Plan.

If you are tired of the trial and error approach to your life, read this book and find yourself on the path to conscious success today!

Meet the Author

David Nielson is the founder and CEO of DNA Worldwide, a management consulting firm specializing in the execution of business strategy implementation and large-scale change. He brings over three decades of corporate, Fortune 500, and private consulting experience in organizational change management, leadership development, and training.

David has helped guide large-scale change initiatives and business strategy driven by ERP, mergers, restructuring, and the need for cultural change. He has been a featured and frequent speaker at PMI, Project World, Chief Executive Network, Management Resources Association, TEC, IABC, Training Director’s Forum, and the Alliance of Organizational Systems Designers. He has worked around the world delivering training and consulting services in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, Malaysia, Brunei, Australia, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.

Formerly the Managing Director of a small boutique consulting firm, David specialized in Strategic Change and Accelerating Implementation. He served as Director of Organization Development and Manager of Sales and Marketing Planning at Coors Brewing Company, with an emphasis on sales management, training, and organizational development. A co-founder of the Denver Organization Development Network Chapter, David is a community leader; he has served on the boards of Red Rocks Community College and the National Pain Foundation, and is a former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Boys’ Ranch.

Praise from Readers Like You

“David’s writing style is personable, interacting, and full of real-life stories and examples that I can relate to. . . . an outstanding book to not only develop your skills and growth, but it will help articulate how you come across and sell yourself to others. I finished this book in one sitting because I lost myself in the ideas and possibilities. David E. Nielson offers real-life examples and how implementing his models will have an impact on your life. There are action steps and lessons throughout the book. The book is down to earth filled with humor and the many mistakes that David and others have made during their leadership and life purpose journey. This book is a winner, and it should be one that you pick up today to start your journey!“

— Lisa Kosak, 5-star Amazon review

“This book helps you be true to yourself and not succumb to fitting in a box for success. Assignments at the end of each chapter add tremendous value for the individual to take action toward his/her definition of success.”

— Steve Pendleton, 5-star Amazon review

“A great read for thought-provoking and conscious self-assessment leading to better self awareness within your career (or personal) journey. Worthwhile for young graduates starting a career and also good for those who feel stuck or just spinning wheels without getting ahead.”

— Linda Castle, 5-star Amazon review

“A solid practical look at a well-worn topic — how to lead a purposeful life that yields results that we all value. Nielson provides principles, practices, and parables that serve as your encouraging wake-up coach.”

— Chip Bell, 5-star Amazon review

Learn More

Visit the website to learn more and access (free) helpful resources.
Buy a copy of the book, or leave a short review of it, on Amazon.
Watch the recent webinar with David to learn more about the 9DCS model.

Social Media Trends for 2019

Here we are a couple of weeks into 2019, and we’re already seeing momentum building behind trends we predict will explode over the course of the year. If you haven’t tried these things yet on your social media platforms, now is the time to be an early adopter — or earlyish adopter — of the big ideas that will shape social this year.

Ephemeral Content

Snapchat pioneered ephemeral content, but now Instagram and Facebook are making it ubiquitous. Ephemeral content is content that is available only for a limited time, such as Instagram or Facebook stories. At first,  stories on these two platforms felt like a weak attempt to imitate Snapchat and attract younger users; but now,  stories are becoming an important part of successful social media strategies. That’s because both Facebook and  Instagram have tweaked their algorithms, giving more visibility to stories and less visibility to traditional newsfeed posts. Instagram stories are now reaching 400 million people each day.

This is all part of the personalization of digital media that we predict will continue long-term. These snippets of content can be created and shared with custom audiences, and they are a powerful way to create a personal face for your brand and bring your audience behind the screen.

Video and Live Content

These were trends last year, and the year before, and here they are again. With the rise of ephemeral content, video is yet again king. Videos do especially well in the stories format, and they continue to outperform other types of content in news-feeds. If you’ve resisted video, know this—resistance is futile. Video is not going away.

Live is the natural extension of video. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all have live functions. As with ephemeral content, the algorithms give live greater reach. If you want to grow your profiles and your audience, live and/or video is a good bet.

Influencers (Big and Small)

Influencers continue to exert tremendous power on social media. Get an influencer to share your content, and an account can grow exponentially overnight. What we’re seeing now is the rise of the micro- or nano- influencer. These are people with strong, engaged niche followings who may not have millions of followers, but who have followers in there of interest who are engaged and take action. Connecting with influencers, big or small, will continue to be a powerful strategy for many brands and thought leaders.

Engagement

It’s great to have a lot of fans/followers, but as many brands have found out the hard way, if those people aren’t engaged the numbers don’t mean much. Social media marketers have been preaching the gospel of engagement for years, but now platforms are on board, too. For instance, that pesky Facebook algorithm is focused on engaging content and driving real interactions. If your content doesn’t create opportunities for engagement, you’ll quickly notice your reach dropping. Those old clickbait calls to action won’t work now, either. It’s time to dig deep and create content that really connects with your audience.

Twitter Slowly Ceases to Matter

Twitter’s problems just continue to mount. It’s never had a solid revenue plan, and it’s attempt to drive ad sales last year with a monthly “boost everything” fee fell flat. The crackdown on fake users was a start, but the platform hasn’t fully addressed hate speech and manipulation of the platform. Top that off with a newsfeed filled with political vitriol, and users are bailing. If you have a Twitter account, you’ve likely noticed a drop in followers and engagement over the past year—that’s what it looks like when a platform loses relevance. If you have a large number of followers and you continue to have success on Twitter, we recommend you stay put. For potential new users, we’re no longer recommending Twitter as part of a successful social media strategy. It will be interesting to see if the company can right the ship, or if it will continue to sink in 2019.

What trends are you going to try out this coming year?

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, 2nd Edition

Six and a half years ago, we launched a book that was destined to become a success. Filled with practical tips, guidelines, templates, and nearly a hundred suggested conversation starters, it quickly rose to bestseller status and became a must-read for leaders interested in career development.

This week, we’re so excited to be supporting the launch of the updated second edition of the resource that Marshall Goldsmith calls “the career conversation bible for busy managers.” Illuminated with stories, quotes, and the perspectives of real managers and employees, this book proves that careers are best developed one conversation at a time.

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go

The new edition of the bestselling employee development classic includes advice on engagement and retention in today’s more flexible employment environment and a new chapter on creating a career development culture in your organization.

Study after study confirms that career development is the single most powerful tool managers have for driving retention, engagement, productivity, and results. But most managers feel they just don’t have time for it. This book offers a better way: frequent, short conversations with employees about themselves, their goals, and the business that can be integrated seamlessly into the normal course of business.

Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni identify three broad types of conversations that will increase employees’ awareness of their strengths, weaknesses, and interests; point out where their organization and their industry are headed; and help them pull all of that together to create forward momentum. And the new chapter includes an assessment so you can measure how well your current culture supports development — and how to improve it.

The new edition is also accompanied by an interactive card deck to help you build the career development habit. Make career development conversations fun and interactive with this deck of cards featuring the most insightful questions leaders worldwide have been asked—or wish they had been asked. Use them to assess your career development style, engage others, incorporate new, richer conversations into your day-to-day interactions with employees, plan a career conversation with your own manager, and more!

Meet the Author

Julie Winkle Giulioni is an author, speaker, and consultant who helps organizations and businesses:

Demystify what it takes to become a great ‘people leader’.
Fire up the passion and commitment of employees.
Keep great talent by activating and developing it.

She works with clients domestically and internationally, offering keynote addresses, facilitated workshops, custom webinars, elearning and microlearning solutions that deliver measurable results.

Julie is the co-author of the Amazon bestseller, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Organizations Need and Employees Want. She’s one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers. She is a regular contributor to The Economist, SmartBrief, Saba’s TalentSpace, the Conference Board’s Human Capital Exchange, and a variety of publications, and offers thoughts on leadership, career development, and more via her blog.

Julie has served as consultant, trainer or speaker to such organizations as American Express, The Conference Board, Macy’s, International Monetary Fund, J.D. Power and Associates, University of California, Verizon, ASTD International Conference, Honda, Green Mountain Coffee, HR Summit, Tenaris, Nemak, SHRM, Sunglass Hut, Kroger, World Congress of HR, Environmental Defense Fund, and University of Dayton.

Praise from Readers Like You

“This isn’t just a book, it’s a resource. Read the book through and then come back to it over and over for new ideas. It is so full of ideas and action items you can’t possibly do it all at once or in order. And work will be required. You won’t get better reading this book. You will become aware of the gap, and you will receive ideas and tools to close the gap. Each chapter is full of assessments, myths debunked, and fresh ideas and new ways to look at old problems. If you want to get serious about retention, this book is a must!“

— Mike Henry Sr, 5-star Amazon review

“. . . this book provides great questions for you to ask employees and leaders about their career aspirations. Asking great questions is hugely important – and you don’t have to know all the answers! (Very few humans do have all the answers.) This book won’t make you a career expert but will help you engage in this vital conversation – and help you retain talented, engaged players in the years to come.”

— Chris Edmonds, 5-star Amazon review

“This book should be required reading for all first-time supervisors, seasoned managers and organizational leaders. Employees yearn to work for the boss that cares about their careers, and helps them to achieve their full potential. Yet, few find the time to do so. Ten minutes a day? Ten minutes a week? Julie Winkle Giiulioni offers tips to follow. Do it!“

— Diana Peterson-More, 5-star Amazon review

“ I’ve been using the first edition for years and was curious whether an upgrade would be appropriate. Yes! I appreciate the relevant perspective of leveraging this for ANY individual working for you — a full time permanent employee, a contractor, a consultant. Discussing and linking to career aspirations makes a difference regardless of the ’employees’ expected tenure.”

— Bella, 5-star Amazon review

Learn More

Visit the website to learn more and access (free) helpful resources.
Buy a copy of the book, or leave a short review of it, on Amazon.

Our 2019 Social Media Wish List

We have a love-hate relationship with social media — and we bet you do too. We love connecting with family, friends, and our virtual communities. We don’t enjoy how cranky some of the social platforms can be. So, dear social media platforms, here is what we would like you to change this year.

Instagram is the platform where we would like to see the most changes. As much as we love Insta, it’s not the most user-friendly platform. We really, really want to be able to re-gram, or share Instagram posts from others, within the app. Right now, you have to go through a lengthy process of copying the image and reloading it or use a third-party app that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Being able to re-gram in the app would help build community and allow really great content to be seen by more people.

We would also love to be able to have all of Instagram’s functionality available on the desktop version. Right now, you can search hashtags, follow others, and comment — but you can’t post or add to stories, and we would love to be able to do that on our computers from time to time. Come on, Instagram, you can do it!

Facebook’s algorithm is famously difficult for brands and we would love to see that suppression stop. Forcing all brands, big or small, to advertise or languish in obscurity doesn’t encourage advertising, it just encourages smaller brands to go elsewhere. Help thought leaders out, Facebook — and in the process, make our news-feeds more diverse and interesting!

We also want more transparency from this platform about how they are monitoring content, using our data, and selling information. Facebook made some progress in 2018, but there is much more to do.

LinkedIn has always stressed that individual users should not have someone else login to their accounts, and in 2018, they started enforcing that edict. Logins from different IP addresses resulted in accounts getting temporarily shut down. It shows a complete lack of understanding about how the platform is used. While scheduling tools can still access accounts, individual community managers cannot. LinkedIn, it’s time to get a clue about how we use the platform and give us some sort of management access for individual accounts.

While we are big supporters of LinkedIn ads, we really do not like sponsored InMail messages. LinkedIn, feel free to make this sponsored spam go away.

Twitter has become a platform where we see less and less growth and engagement. It’s time Twitter figured out what it wants to be when it grows up, and start moving in that direction. That means shutting down hate speech, abuse, and bullying, and giving legitimate content more support and visibility.

These are a few of changes we would like to see on social media in the coming year. What’s on your wish list?

Open-Minded Goals

I love the way our home looks at Christmas. I love the lights and the greenery, the giant tree, the cozy throws and pillows, the sound of jingle bells on every door. It’s warm and welcoming, just the way the holidays should make one feel. But as much as I enjoy it, I also appreciate the way it looks after the festive is packed up and the needles swept away. It’s such a stark contrast — busy and full to clean and open — and to me it epitomizes the freshness of the new year.   

Whether we’re intentional about it or not, January finds most of us reflecting on what has been, and what we would like to change in the next 12 months. We talk about it with our friends, Instagram our goals, and Pinterest the possibilities. We create inspirational graphics to motivate us, or — in the case of a friend of mine — embroider it on a hand towel as a daily reminder.

As an INTJ, I am a big proponent of ongoing growth and the idea that we’ve never arrived. Anyone who has worked with me knows I’m quick to point out that there’s always room for improvement — in ourselves and our processes. I love calendar day, when I start with 12 empty months and begin to fill in possibilities in pencil (even better are the days when pencil possibilities change to plans in ink!). Looking ahead and setting big goals gives us something to aim for and keeps us motivated when we get to the less exciting parts. This is true whether you’re writing a book and planning for a launch or working towards being debt-free. Goals are good!

But then there’s the question of what kind? Do you stop at grand, overarching ideas that you’d like to achieve . . . someday?

Write a book
Launch a speaking career
Spend more time with family
Become a mentor

Or are you more intentional, setting specific goals to be accomplished by a set date, with their own checklist of steps required to get there?

Write 700 words a day
Land 6 speaking engagements by June 1
Book beach house August 1-7 for family vacation
Fill out paperwork to begin volunteering at youth center

Or maybe it’s a bit of both.

Sometimes it helps to break it down from a larger idea/word (e.g., Time) into smaller, bite-sized specifics (i.e., more time with family>schedule a day off each month to make plans for a longer vacation>book rental house). In the Weaving Influence Book Marketing group, we’ve been taking polls and chatting with group members about what their marketing and writing goals are . . . not for the year, just for this first month of 2019. Smaller bites make the mountain look a little less intimidating.

And for those of us who, in addition to actionable goals, appreciate the idea of a word for the year, I share this to close. I read a post this week from a friend who really wanted to pick a word that would summarize what she hoped the year would hold for her, professionally and personally. But after all of her introspection and list making, she realized that she was actually embracing the idea of a year of the _______, open to all the unknown and endless possibilities. Speaking as someone whose life has changed drastically in the last two years, her openness to whatever comes really resonated with me.

Open, by the way, is my word of the year. Open to change, open to growth, open to stepping outside of my comfort zone, open to doing more. While I have a list of dreams rolling around in my head (write a book, research vacation possibilities, schedule home renovations), more than anything I just want to be open to what 2019 will bring — the unknown and the endless.

How about you?

 

5 Tools to Make This Your Best Marketing Year Ever

There’s something about opening a new calendar that urges us to spend time reflecting and refocusing for the year ahead. We come out of the holiday season tired of looking at last year’s unfinished projects, fatigued by too little rest and too many sweets, and eager to reset our brains and bodies. That makes the beginning of a new year the perfect time for re-evaluating strategies, adjusting goals, and focusing on new directions.

Maybe you’ve done that already. Maybe you’re still working through it. Maybe life is crazy, and you settled for a single word or focus for the next twelve months instead of stressing over accomplishing specific goals this year.

Whatever your approach to accomplishing things in the new year, whatever your goals or focus might include, here are some recent tools from Weaving Influence that can help you continue moving forward in 2019, and make this your best marketing year ever.

Facebook Live Videos

Want access to book marketing tips and inspiration from other authors and thought leaders? Check out our regular Facebook Live sessions, available on the Weaving Influence page. Our CEO and founder, Becky Robinson, meets virtually with authors across the country to discuss their top book marketing ideas, strategies for success, and favorite book launch tools. Don’t miss out on this easy opportunity for continued learning! Access past videos here.

Book Marketing Action Guide

What are your book marketing goals for this year? How are you planning to accomplish them? Over the years, we’ve spent countless hours testing and refining our book marketing methods, and have figured out a comprehensive strategy that any author can use to launch their book successfully.

The Book Marketing Action Guide is a comprehensive course designed to help you build your platform and get your books to the audiences they were written for. It walks you step-by-step through the four phases of a book launch: building, working, launching, and advancing. Learn more here.

Content Library Automator

If you’ve been blogging for a year or several years, you’ve accumulated a wealth of content. Are you making the most of your investment? We’ve created a one-of-a-kind DONE FOR YOU resource to help.

Our Content Library Automator provides a valuable tool to cut your effort in organizing your existing blog content and creating new content to share. It also creates templated social media posts to highlight your archived content. You can utilize it to streamline daily social media posting, quickly craft new email marketing messages, find inspiration for creating new content, and jumpstart larger projects from a neatly categorized archive of topics. Learn more here.

Free Ebooks

Looking for blurbs? Book endorsements from well-known people provide important credibility and social proof for your book. Learn how to seek endorsements for your book with Making the Ask, our step-by-step guide for how to best approach your dream endorsers. Download here.

Just need some inspiration for your journey? Whether you’re running your first marathon, starting a new venture, or well into your business journey, you’ll find ideas, inspiration, and encouragement in the pages of Setting the Pace. Paired with questions for personal reflection, each section will give you insights for your journey. Download here.

What are some of your book marketing goals for this year?

The Art of ‘Giving Up’

At Weaving Influence, we’re well known for telling our clients that finding success on social or selling their book is more like a marathon than a sprint. But would you be surprised if we also told you that we think it’s okay to give up?

We’ve been launching books and supporting authors since early 2012, and during that time our team has watched trends come — and go. When you’ve worked hard to develop plans and processes, we know how hard it can be to give up on them. However, if you want to find success in the future, then it’s important to be honest in your assessment of what’s working and be willing to give up on what’s not.

Facebook is a prime example of how things change and why we need to constantly flex and adapt.

Back in 2012, the commonly accepted “best practice” was to set up a professional Facebook page for every book. If an author had three books, that was three Facebook pages to organize, set up, and run; three pages to provide content for and get people to like.
When this became unpopular, we created “evergreen” author pages. We renamed and reorganized and things picked up again for a time. We changed headers and profile images to promote launches and encourage sales, but engagement on pages was dying. So what next?  
Launch groups, of course! It required more in-the-moment engagement time and some extra planning, but it was absolutely worth it. People loved having direct access to the author for Q & A sessions. They loved feeling like they were a part of an exclusive club. That is, until everyone had a club and it no longer felt exclusive.
In 2018 — if you hadn’t totally abandoned Facebook for Instagram — it was all about Facebook Live. And if you still have a page and plan to share content then you need to find a budget. Advertising and sponsored posts are what get you in front of the masses, at least until you do something that makes you note (or news) worthy.

The point here is — it’s always changing. What we’ve learned is that it’s not so much about “giving up” as it is about being flexible and connecting to your audience. Let’s face it, Facebook Lives are just the 2018 version of Tweetchats. People still want to connect with you, it’s just the way of doing it that changes. 

But some things never change (nor should they), for example:

Owning your home on the web. The only site you can totally control is your own, so create a site that will grab any visitor who stumbles upon it — whether they get there from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. We see no expiration date for this one.
Graphics are king. No matter where you end up, we’re all short on time and everyone loves a visual, so get creative! Utilize tools like Canva to create graphics that will grab the attention of your audience, and can be repurposed when needed elsewhere.
Showing up. We don’t care where you end up, but you need to show up if you’re going to be there. If you have a blog (and we believe you should), then you need to write regularly. If you just love LinkedIn, then leave comments, share posts, and reach out to contacts. Wherever you are — show them the real you. Authenticity sells.

If you’ve been trying to build an audience following on a specific social media site, but it’s sapping your time and energy and giving you nothing in return, pull the plug on it!

Don’t hold onto something that’s not working for you and your audience. Experiment, research what others in your genre are doing, step out of your comfort zone, and when you find what clicks — enjoy it while it lasts.

If you’re interested in receiving personalized recommendations for optimizing your channels and making the most of your online presence, consider contacting us to book a consultation with our team in 2019!