Becky Robinson's Blog, page 35

3 Free Tools for Creating Shareable Social Media Links

You spend hours working to create amazing content. But once you’ve written that blog post, created that microsite, or listed that new book in your shop . . . how do you share it with the world? Even more importantly, how do you encourage others to share it?

We suggest three (free) tools to make it easy for others to share your links with their networks.

Click to Tweet

One great way to boost sharing of your blog post or online articles is to include a “tweetable” phrase or sentence. For example:

Clickable tweets make it easy for others to share your words! [tweet this]

Anyone can create a basic link without creating an account—but if you’d like to view or track your links (to see when and where they’ve been shared), we recommend logging in with your Twitter account. It’s completely free, and it makes the tool even more beneficial by allowing you to organize your links in folders, adjust the wording at any time, and track sharing stats to your heart’s content.

You choose the exact message you want others to share, including the post url and your Twitter handle, and generate a link. Then just copy and paste that link into your post. You can even choose from a handful of designs for displaying the link, if you desire.

All your readers have to do is click the link, then click their Twitter box to send the message (hence the name, Click to Tweet). Try it here.

Share Link Generator

What if you want to create a message for people to share somewhere besides Twitter? The tool we use most frequently is Share Link Generator. It lets you create a share link for Facebook or Google Plus; add customized messages for Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest; and even create a shareable email message, with customized fields for recipients, subject, or text body.

Here’s what it looks like: Share on Facebook | Share on Twitter | Share on LinkedIn

If you’re on our email list, you’ve probably seen this one in action. We like using it to help people share about webinars and book launches, or to make it easy to send us an email about a particular topic (i.e., by specifying a particular subject line or recipient). Try it here.

Bit.ly

Sometimes you don’t have a particular message you want people to share, you just have a link. Rather than displaying a long, ugly string of letters and numbers—which often doesn’t clarify what the link actually points it—we suggest using bit.ly to create a short, customized link that is memorable and eye-catching. For instance, a customized share link for this post could look like bit.ly/WIblogtips.

While bit.ly will automatically shorten any link you want, we encourage you to take a few moments to create a more personalized look—and one that is consistent with your brand or platform. For instance, instead of merely using your book title, include the initials of your blog or your name (e.g., we could use WI for Weaving Influence, HTR for Hometown Reads, or LC for Lead Change).

This is especially useful for sharing a link to retail sites such as Amazon. Consider the difference between:

https://www.amazon.com/Character-Based-Leader-Instigating-Leadership-Revolution-ebook/dp/B008Z4HDPS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1534448054&sr=8-2&keywords=character+based+leader (original link)
bit.ly/2BeT2mP (default shortened link)
bit.ly/LCGleaderbook (customized link)

Which one do you think looks better?

Bit.ly also lets you edit links in the future, track analytics, and measure campaign performance in real-time, which makes a helpful tool for seeing where your engagement is happening most frequently. Try it here.

Have you used any of these tools? What others would you recommend?

 

Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust

In today’s complex world, leadership must rely on high levels of trust and openness throughout the organization. In this week’s book launch, bestselling author and father of organizational culture studies, Edgar Schein, and his son, Peter Schein, trail-blaze with a creative perspective on leadership that encourages vulnerability and empathy as a form of strength.

Humble Leadership

The more traditional forms of leadership that are based on static hierarchies and professional distance between leaders and followers are growing increasingly outdated and ineffective. As organizations face more complex interdependent tasks, leadership must become more personal in order to ensure open, trusting communication that will make more collaborative problem solving and innovation possible. Without open and trusting communication throughout organizations, they will continue to face the productivity and quality problems that result from reward systems that emphasize individual competition and climbing the corporate ladder.

Authors Edgar Schein and Peter Schein recognize this reality and call for a reimagined form of leadership that coincides with emerging trends of relationship building, complex group work, diverse workforces, and cultures in which everyone feels psychologically safe.

Humble Leadership calls for “here and now” humility based on a deeper understanding of the constantly evolving complexities of interpersonal, group, and intergroup relationships that require shifting our focus towards the process of group dynamics and collaboration. Humble Leadership at all levels and in all working groups will be the key to achieving the creativity, adaptiveness, and agility that organizations will need to survive and grow.

Meet the Authors

Ed Schein is the author of numerous bestselling books, including the recent Humble Inquiry and Humble Consulting. Schein recently retired from the position of the Society of Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has received ample recognition for his work, with multiple lifetime achievement awards from associations such as the American Society of Training Directors (2000), the Academy of Management (2009), and the International Leadership Association (2012). Edgar Schein is renowned as the father of organizational cultural studies.

Peter Schein is a strategy consultant in Silicon Valley with 30 years of business experience at large and small technology companies, including Apple, SGI, and Sun Microsystems in corporate development and M&A. He has an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Stanford, an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern, and an OD certificate from the USC Center for Effective Organizations. Humble Leadership is his second writing collaboration with his father, Ed.

Praise from Readers

“Effective leadership is all about building trust and relationships. With ‘Humble Leadership’ Ed and Peter help us to actually get there by understanding relationships on a much more granular and tangible level.”

— Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche Group

“Humble leadership, as the authors remind us, though, is no mere philosophy. It is a result of disciplined attention to structure, culture, and relationships. The Schein’s offer a persuasive roadmap to achieve this understanding and true effectiveness in institutional settings.”

— Paul F. Levy, Author of Goal Play! Leadership Lessons from the Soccer Field

“This is a must read for reflective leaders at all levels seeking to enhance their effectiveness and execution in pursuit of their organizational mission and vision.”

— Gary Kaplan, CEO of Virginia Mason Medical Center

Learn More

Visit the website to learn more about the book and its authors.
Buy a copy of the book (or leave a review of it) here.
Watch the recent webinar to learn more about this new approach to leadership.

Simple Tools for Creating Stunning Social Media Graphics

We are a very visual society. That’s evidenced through the popularity of image-based social platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, our penchant for funny cat videos and silly memes, and our photo-heavy Facebook feeds. Years of analyzing blog traffic and social metrics show that posts with quality images get shared more than twice as frequently as those without any visually-appealing graphics.

If you haven’t been in the habit of sharing images with your blog posts, or sharing your message visually across your social platforms, why not give it a try before the summer ends? Here are a few tools to help you get started.

Finding Images

First things first: where can you find free images to use? Perhaps you have some photos of your own to get you started, and that’s a great place to start. You can edit and share to your heart’s content, without worrying about copyright or licensing laws. But chances are you’ll eventually need a few more options than last summer’s vacation snapshots. Our two favorite sites for finding free images are Pixabay and Unsplash. Both offer a large variety of photos, illustrations, and vector graphics entirely free for both commercial and non-commercial use (though always be sure to double-check the license limitations before downloading).

Creating Graphics

Another option that works great on social media is adding a little text to your image to spark conversation or share a key thought for the day. The good news is, you don’t need a design degree or expensive software to make eye-catching graphics! One of our favorite (free!) tools for this is Pablo. You can create something within seconds by using one of their pre-made templates, or make something a little more personalized with their huge database of photos (or upload your own!) and variety of image sizes and filters, font styles and text colors, and logo options.

If you want something a little more customizable, check out Canva. We like this tool especially for creating personalized templates for sharing uniform-looking quotes and infographics of any size or shape. You can choose from a variety of free backgrounds and templates, upload your own, or pay a dollar to use one of their premium images or design elements.

Other image-editing sites we’d give honorable mention to are PicMonkey and BeFunky. Both offer free versions of their software, with more features and higher resolution images available for inexpensive monthly subscriptions. Like Canva, both sites allow you to upload your own images or choose from their selection of stock photos, use image filters or special effects, and add fully-customizable text.

Adding Text

Now that you have your free images and favorite software picked out . . . what text should you add? A good rule of thumb is to make it more about helping your audience rather than promoting yourself — something that will encourage or motivate, spark interest or curiosity, and inspire them to share with others.

Some ideas include:

a thought-provoking quote from a leader in your field
a thoughtful or fun question to spark conversation
short, relevant lists of favorite tools or tips
a key takeaway from your latest blog post
exciting updates or announcements (keep it short!)

Don’t forget to include your website url and brand logo somewhere on your graphics. That’s important for copyright purposes, and will also help drive traffic to your site as people share your images across their own networks.

Ready, Set . . . Share!

Make your images easy to share by keeping them simple, clean, and crisp. Blurry won’t cut it. Neither will 90’s style clip-art. Make things eye-catching and appealing by choosing just one or two fonts, a couple colors, and a high-quality image that clearly relates to the text or blog topic.

One final tip: when adding an image to your blog post or website, always fill out the “Alt text” field with the image’s text (or helpful description) and your website address. That helps search engines find your content when people are looking for it, and boosts your web traffic substantially.

What other tools do you use for creating high-quality images?

9 Tools to Help You Tame Busyness and Become More Productive

How much time to you think you lose each work day to email? To social media? To being pulled from your work into someone else’s project or crisis? Probably a couple of hours each day. No wonder we always feel so busy, overwhelmed, and stressed. Busyness is taking the place of productivity in our work days.

While we don’t have an instant fix, we have found some productivity tools that help our remote team stay focused, energized, and productive. We hope they help you make better use of your time . . . and empower you to say ‘no’ to distractions and busyness.

Google Drive

It’s an oldie, but a goodie. Google Drive allows your team to collaborate remotely, leave notes, and generally do great work together. It’s also free. What’s not to love?

Pomodoro Timer

It’s free, it’s easy, and it helps you stay focused. Based on the Pomodoro technique, this timer helps you stay super-focused and alerts you when you should take a break. It allows our team members to dive into more thoughtful work without the distraction of email or IMs. I use this when I have a writing project or more in-depth work that needs my full focus.

ToDoist

You might have noticed a theme — this tool is also free. It allows you to keep your to-do lists in one place. That might sound underwhelming, but it can be life-changing. You can create list categories and prioritize tasks. Better still, you can assign lists to co-workers or family members who also use the app. My mind is regularly going with things I need to do. With ToDoist, I download that chatter into the program and I’m able to focus more effectively, plus get all the big and little tasks accomplished.

LastPass

I have a confession: I don’t use LastPass, but my husband (an IT professional) regularly encourages me to make the switch. LastPass generates really secure passwords for all of your accounts and stores these passwords in a secure way. So if you are like me, and you constantly forget — then reset — your passwords, LastPass will save you that time and effort while keeping you safe from hackers. If you use the same password everywhere, you probably need LastPass for the security alone.

Evernote

Evernote saves your notes, documents, photos, and even lets you clip sections from web articles. You can organize the files and access across devices. We encourage the use of third-party curated content and Evernote makes it a breeze to capture and catalog that content for future social sharing.

SaneBox

Email is the bane of productivity. We all know this, but I work in email marketing, so I really want the emails I send — and those my clients send — to be read. Enter SaneBox. It analyzes your email behavior and moves newsletters and other less urgent content into a SaneLater folder that you can dive into when you have a minute. Clean inbox. Organized newsletter content. Win for everyone.

StayFocused

Find yourself getting sucked into Facebook or Reddit? StayFocused is the help you need. It’s a Chrome Extension that temporarily blocks sites you choose, so you can limit distractions. It’s free. It works.

Hemingway

Grammarly helps find your obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. Hemingway goes a step further — helping you tighten up your writing, eliminate misused words, and just make everything you write that much better. It costs $20 but it’s worth the investment if you do a lot of writing.

Assistant.to

I used to waste so much time trying to schedule meetings. I’ve started using assistant.to and that’s all changing. This app allows you to send a message to those you want to meet with and they can choose from your open times. It’s not perfect — no group options yet — but it does save time and it works seamlessly with Gmail.

We hope some of these tools help you tame the busyness beast. Which tools have you tried to increase your productivity? 

Social Media Tactics to Try this Summer

Social media is constantly changing. There are new platforms to experiment with, new options to try, new discoveries yet to make. We’re here to cut through all the noise for you and share the new and not-so-new options we believe are worth your time.

Here are three ideas to try before the summer ends.

Instagram

You’re probably thinking to yourself “that’s not new at all.” No, Instagram is not new; but many leadership and business writers have hesitated to move their brands to Instagram. We suggest you hesitate no more. Instagram is the platform posting the most growth in users right now — it just hit one billion monthly users. You want to reach one billion people, right? The first step is to get on the platform.

Instagram is a great place to get creative with your brand. If you have a metaphor that you regularly use in your work, Instagram can be the place to bring it to life. An example would be for our servant leaders who talk about leading from the heart. Consider sharing ‘hearts’ you find in everyday life — the heart-shaped rock, a heart-shaped leaf, or even heart graffiti. It makes your words visual and encourages others to share images with you, thus creating a community around your ideas. The sky is the limit here.

Videos and Live Streams

Instagram just announced IGTV, which is its attempt to lure creators and viewers from YouTube. IGTV is available on Instagram and on a stand-alone app. Basically, it allows you to post videos longer than one minute to the platform. We like it for two reasons:

Video content performs better than any other kind on all social platforms; and
Instagram will push your videos out to a larger audience helping you grow your thought leadership.

Consider a weekly or daily tip video, a video bookclub, or Q&A session. Again, the only limit is your creativity.

Facebook Live is another option worth exploring. You can go live whenever and wherever you please. It’s a great platform, because Facebook will send all of your followers an alert that you are live and it will push the live feed out to a wider audience. Those who can’t make the live event can watch later (you’ll discover that’s when most views happen — we are an on-demand nation).

Live content, just like video content, can focus on tips, question and answers sessions, mini-webinars, or interviews. The idea is to add value to your audience and give those just discovering your work a reason to learn more.

We recommend a weekly live, but if that’s more of a commitment than you can make, try a monthly cadence to begin. Decide when you plan to go live and promote the event on your social media. You’ll be surprised how powerful this can be for your social community, plus the opportunity to interact with your audience in real-time is beneficial for you and them.

Boosting Posts

Most writers follow an organic social strategy, but we suggest adding paid content to further push your message to new audiences. Facebook allows you to boost content for just a few dollars. We recommend identifying the content that is performing well organically, and delivers on your goals, and then putting $20 dollars behind a boost. You can target an audience around several demographics and interests. We have a client who’s followed this strategy for the past two years. He had close to 500 Facebook followers when we began. He has more than 10,000 now . . . and they are engaged! Everyone’s results will vary; but consistent, strategic effort does pay off.

All three strategies require consistency and commitment to deliver results. We’re not suggesting you get on Instagram, start sharing weekly videos, and begin doing monthly lives tomorrow. We challenge you to try one of these things this summer, so as your book launch approaches or your 2nd edition is ready to come out, you’ll have a larger, more engaged social following ready to support you and your work.

Which suggestion are you most excited to try?

How to Create an Effective Lead Magnet

How do you make a good first impression on your clients? How can you stand out from the dozens (or more) websites offering similar products or services, in a way that converts visitors into customers? How do you get more of the “right” people to hit that “subscribe” button?

When we discuss new website projects with clients, we like to be straightforward about one thing: just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. There are millions (if not billions) of websites on the web, so you better have a solid plan for attracting interest and engagement.

Building and maintaining a relationship with readers on your site is a process that can involve a number of different strategies. One such strategy is the lead magnet — and this summer is a great time to work on developing one!

What is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is a resource offered in exchange for contact information, such as an email address, which is then used to convert visitors to your website into genuine leads. A good lead magnet should offer something specific of real value while establishing credibility.

The ultimate goal of a lead magnet is two-fold:

Adding value for others through a product or service that solves a problem or meets a need.
Building your email list and increasing your conversion rate (the percentage of users who take a desired action).

You may want your lead magnet to help you gain more business or to build community around a thought or idea. Whatever your immediate aim may be, having a strong lead magnet will help your website work with you to accomplish those ultimate goals!

Defining Your Audience & Offering

Creating a valuable lead magnet (for both you and your customers) begins with knowing your target audience: not just who they are, but what they want or need. How can your products or services satisfy their desires or offer a solution to their problems?

Take some time to define (on paper) your target customer — the ideal person you’d like to see on your email list — and consider what you have to offer that intersects with their interests and responsibilities. Taking time to do this simple exercise can help you refine your offering so it attracts the right kind of leads — the people who want what you have to offer.

If you’re not sure what that sweet spot is, check out what your competition is offering. Of course, your lead magnet should be uniquely focused on what you have to offer. It should give visitors to your site a taste of what you can do, leaving them interested in learning more. But browsing competitor’s sites might give you some ideas of what you can share that’s more uniquely situated to your knowledge or skills.

Your lead magnet can be in a variety of forms, depending on what would be most valuable to your target audience. It could offer a particular service, specific piece of information, or some other type of direction that your customers would benefit from knowing. The key is to make it specific — not offering all the information available on the subject, but targeting it to a very particular situation.

For instance, rather than a very generalized guide to public speaking, offer a piece about defining your takeaways for keynote addresses. Rather than offering an hour of coaching on any topic, narrow that down to a specific role or organizational area for which you can offer wisdom and expertise, such as managers or HR departments. That’s where knowing your audience and their needs really comes into play!

Types of Lead Magnets

Once you’ve defined who you’re seeking and what you have to offer, consider creating one of these types of well-performing lead magnets. Whichever one you decide to create, be sure to make it visible on highly-trafficked areas of your site, most likely the home page and the blog (if you have one). It should serve as a way for visitors to your site to get more acquainted with you and your work.

Ebook, sample chapter, or white paper

Offering a sample chapter, ebook, workbook, white paper, case study, or some other helpful document is a great way to establish yourself as an author or thought leader. Just keep in mind that most people website visitors do not have a lot of incentive to spend time reading a long ebook or paper. So if you do go this route, try to keep the selection as brief as possible, and include in the lead magnet description a solid reason as to why this information is worth reading. For example: “Sign up to receive a free sample chapter from my book that will teach you 5 easy ways to quadruple your income in a week.”

Resource list or infographic

If you don’t have a lot of time to invest in your lead magnet, but still want to offer some real value, consider composing a simple list of highly valuable resources that your target audience will find helpful (online tools, articles, podcasts, etc.). You can also present this information in an eye-catching infographic for more visual appeal. For example: “Sign up to receive the freelance writer’s online toolbox for free, a select list of recommended resources for getting your freelance writing business up and running this quarter.”

Email or video course

You may also choose to create some kind of email course or series of videos for your lead magnet. You can use a variety of emailing services to do this (we recommend Mailchimp or Infusionsoft), but just be sure to focus on helping solve one or more of your customers’ most urgent problems. Target your course to something specific, and be sure to tell them how they could benefit from it. For example: “Sign up to receive our free one-week #12MinuteBookLaunch course, and get ready to see real results in your book marketing — in just 7 days!”

Quizzes

A quiz can be a fun and engaging way to help your audience understand something fundamental about themselves and the way they conduct business. Everyone loves learning about themselves — use this to draw them into your ideas and services. Use the results page to link to more information on your website!

Newsletters

Though most online brands offer some kind of regular updates or newsletter via email (and most people’s inboxes could stand a round of unsubscribes), a newsletter can still be an excellent lead magnet. Clearly state the value of your newsletter and consider adding in text about the frequency of delivery. For example, someone is much more likely to sign up for “a 150-word weekly marketing tip” than “a weekly blog post.”

Measuring Success

How do you know if your lead magnet is doing the job you intended it to do? Ask the following questions:

Do visitors to your site opt-in to your email list?
Do they stay subscribed once they are on the list?
Are you getting an increase in interest and, ultimately, business (this may take several months to measure)?

What lead magnets have you used — and how have you measured their success? We’d love to hear about your experience!

 

Interested in developing an online strategy, including a lead magnet for your website, but not sure where to start? Contact our team—we’d be happy to help!

The Two Most Important Aspects of Effective Email Marketing

I’ve noticed that some clients are resistant to sending email marketing messages about their work. Why? As authors who are seeking to promote a message, they are the recipient of other authors’ emails, and rather than enjoying the messages, they’re turned off by them.

Since they don’t want to annoy others, they assume the solution is to not send messages, at least to not send messages like the ones they are receiving.

Before I share two important aspects of effective email marketing, I want to first share a couple of important reminders about email marketing.

Follow email marketing best practices.In order to not annoy people with unwanted emails, it’s important to follow email marketing best practices, which includes ONLY adding people to your list who request to be added, giving you their explicit permission. You do not have permission just because you know someone personally, have emailed them directly, are connected to them on LinkedIn, or got their business card at an event. Typically, people give you permission to email them by filling out a form on your website.

Unsubscribe from unwanted lists.Your own fatigue about email marketing may be tied to the fact that you’re receiving emails that are irrelevant to you or unrequested. It’s possible you subscribed to these communications, but maybe you didn’t. If you are annoyed by or overwhelmed by them, unsubscribe, or choose to ignore and delete. Unless the emails are clearly dangerous, don’t mark as spam which can cause problems for the sender; instead, use the legally-required unsubscribe link.

People will gladly open and engage with email they want to receive, including email marketing they’ve intentionally subscribed to receive.

Think about a problem you’ve recently struggled with, or a challenge you’re looking to overcome. Suppose you landed on a website that contained valuable, helpful, and actionable ideas to address your issue. You feel so convinced that you’ll gain new insight from this expert that you enter your email address to subscribe to the content.

What is your response when that expert’s email comes into your inbox? If you’re anything like me, you open it as soon as you are able to give it your attention. You read it carefully, scanning to see if it contains the answers you are looking for. If the email contains links to content that resonates with your area of need, you click it and consume that content. Then you eagerly anticipate the next message.

Here are two ways to ensure that people open, enjoy, and take action on your emails.

Provide content that compels them to learn more. My example above outlines the response we can expect when our email messages contain content of value to our audience. The more value you add that is specifically relevant to your audience’s needs, the more likely they will be to receive your email joyfully.

Give your email recipients a personal connection to you. The more personal an email, the more likely someone is to respond. Since email marketing is, by its nature, a one-way communication and impersonal, the more real you can become to your audience, the more they will want to hear from you. What can you share that will both help people learn and help people get to know you? How can you invite people into an ongoing conversation with you? What question can you ask to invite their participation and reply?

When you send email to people who have asked for it, send the content they are expecting and hoping for, and infuse as much of your own unique personality into each message, they will open and engage with what you send.

Build Your Content Library FIRST

During our initial meetings with authors and thought leaders over the years, most clients have been very enthusiastic about following our plan to support their launch. They say “yes!” to writing guest blog posts, “yes!” to providing 1-2 posts a week for their own blog, and “yes!” to creating unique content for PR requests and top tier media.

As we move from the Building Phase into the Working and then Launching phases, a few of them have been just as prolific as promised, but the majority end up exactly where we warned them they could be: scrambling for content during crunch time.

Whether you believe it or not, you will be very busy with last minute changes to the book, unforeseen issues with the distributor, and plans for marketing your published work to your desired audience. You may find, as so many do, that the time that you thought you would have for writing “once the book is done” is eaten up very quickly by things outside of your control.

When faced with fifteen — or fifty — requests from your publicist or fellow authors and bloggers for content and interviews to help them spread your message, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and only answer the top five. This not only sends the unintended message that the others aren’t important, but it causes you to lose out on free advertising.

Don’t miss out — be prepared to be generous with your content because you did the work ahead of time.

In addition to the above reasons for why you need a content library, here are three ideas for creating a stockpile or ready-made library of content, whether you have a ready-to-launch book, a rough outline, or are hoping to be discovered as a new niche blogger.

1. If you find yourself with time on your hands, USE IT.

Instead of taking a nap on a rainy afternoon, type out a short article or two. Rather than watching a movie on your next flight, jot down outlines for 7 or 8 future posts. When inspiration hits you, use it! Chances are, when it’s time to respond to pre-launch requests, you may not be feeling particularly creative or enthusiastic after completing all those manuscript revisions!

2. Writing once can help you TWICE.

Even if you don’t have a book yet, you can stockpile posts that can be used on your own blog during the book writing phase. This will keep your blog active in the present while you are busy focusing on the future. ALSO, If you mention your book or include ideas from it in your posts, they can stay in your launch library to be reused later (with two or three easy tweaks to refresh them) as guest posts for bloggers who are willing to use repurposed content.

3. You’re not writing a BOOK, just a few paragraphs.

So many bloggers and authors are paralyzed by the idea that they need to come up with 2,000 or 2,500 word posts, when 250-500 will do. Everyone’s in a hurry, so your post should be like the sample on a stick that fast-food restaurants hand out to entice you to buy a meal — hook them with the basic ideas, and sell them on buying the book.

No matter where you are in the process, set aside time to begin cultivating your library of content so that you can fulfill all those “yes!” promises that you make to yourself — and others.

P.S. Learn more about repurposing content in our upcoming webinar! Details here

 

Summer Is the Perfect Time to Experiment on Social Media

It may not seem like it, but social media is cyclical. We see less engagement with social media every year starting around July 1, and activity doesn’t rebound until September. It’s summer break but for memes and politics!

This break in activity is a great time to do some social media experimentation. Not as many people are engaging, so you can test material and pinpoint what works, and roll it out in a larger initiative or campaign in the fall.

Here are just a few ideas we recommend trying this summer.

Build a content library.

I regularly hear from clients that they don’t have time to handle multiple social media channels. I’m proof that it can become a full-time job — but it doesn’t have to. Building an evergreen content library allows you to schedule content with ease, dropping in of-the-moment posts as needed. Summer is a great time to search for curated content, pull powerful tweets from your writing, catalog your blog posts for re-sharing, write new social content, and create graphics and images. (More on this next week!)

Experiment with live streaming.

We’ve been recommending Facebook live for some time, but we do understand that live video streaming can seem intimidating. Summer is a great time to experiment with it. Invite a friend or colleague to join you for a Q&A, schedule a short training, or create a live introduction event. Your imagination is the limit! One suggestion — plan to do a live event each week during the summer to get a feel for the format and discover the ways it can work for your thought leadership.

Launch a new platform.

Have you been thinking about increasing the number of social platforms you are on? Now is the time to launch that new account. We especially recommend giving Instagram a try. IGTV is a great new video option; plus, sharing inspirational graphics and interesting snaps from your work life can create a vibrant community. Consider creating an Instagram book club or even a learning group around your work. You dream it, and they will come.

Video, video, video.

Video is the strongest content for social sharing, and every network supports it. Summer is a great time to gather the gear necessary (no, your phone is not enough!) and start creating content. You’ll be amazed at how quickly solid video content helps propel social growth and engagement. Note: content needs to have some real meat to it and be as high-quality as possible to stand out.

While others are vacationing this summer, we hope you’ll use at least a few of these hazy, lazy days to invigorate your social media platforms and expand your message.

Which platform or task will you experiment with over the next few months?

 

Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers

This week we’re excited to launch a #1 new release for job hunters and career changers, a handbook that demystifies the job search process and provides simple strategies for getting in front of the decision-makers and securing the job you want.

Most Americans spend around five years of their lives engaged in some type of job search activity, and hold about eleven different positions in the course of their career. In fact, the new normal is not only to switch jobs but to change professions—which isn’t easy to accomplish. Whether considering a completely different career, or simply changing roles within your current organization, you need a savvy understanding of both the art and science of the job search.

Switchers

Switchers is the first book written specifically for the career changer and will help you to realize your dream. The first step is recognizing that the usual rules and job search tools won’t work for you. Resumes and job boards were designed with traditional applicants in mind. As a career switcher, you have to go beyond the basics, using tactics tailor-made to ensure your candidacy stands out. Switchers reveals how to:

Understand the concerns of hiring managers—and think like they do
Craft a resume that catches their attention within six seconds
Spotlight transferable skills that companies covet
Rebrand yourself—aligning your professional identity with your new aspirations
Reach decision-makers by recruiting “ambassadors” from within your network
Nail interviews by turning tough questions to your advantage
Convince skeptical employers to take a chance on you
Negotiate a competitive compensation package—even as a “newbie” to the field

Career changers face unique challenges that demand fresh approaches. Packed with psychological insights, practical exercises, and inspiring success stories, Switchers helps you leap over obstacles and into a whole new field.

Are you stuck in an unsatisfying job? In the wrong profession? An industry that just isn’t a fit? Get unstuck! Land a new career—one you’re genuinely passionate about. Read Switchers and pull off the most daring—and fulfilling—career move of your life!

Meet the Author

Dawn Graham, PhD, LP, is the Career Director for The MBA Program for Executives at The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania, where she partners in setting strategy and supporting the EMBA students in achieving their career objectives through extensive programming and individual coaching. She also hosts a national call-in radio show on Sirius XM (Channel 111) “Career Talk,” and writes regularly for Forbes.com under their leadership channel.

Earlier in her career, Dawn held successful roles at Korn Ferry (formerly Personnel Decisions International), where she moved from providing executive consulting and coaching services to building and implementing the firm’s global talent resource allocation infrastructure; and Arthur Andersen, AT&T Corp and Lee Hecht Harrison, where she gained experience transforming policies and practices, analyzing and nurturing talent, and understanding both company and individual career needs.

A licensed psychologist, Dawn holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver, a Master’s degree in Organizational Development from the Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Seton Hall University.

Praise from Readers

“Dr. Dawn Graham gives you the best process I’ve ever seen.   She’s an expert on how to make your value visible in your new niche. And you’ll love her plain language.”

— Lynne Waymon, CEO of Contacts Count LLC

“Dr. Graham gets underneath the anxiety associated with changing careers and divides the process into digestible, achievable steps. Then, too, she helps the reader use psychology toward convincing others that this switch is an investment worth making.”

— Dr. Jody Foster, MD, MBA, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry

“It is rare to find a career book that is both inspiring and practical, but Dr. Dawn Graham has hit the bullseye with Switchers.  This is a must-read for anyone who could use the help of step-by-step tools and strategies toward changing their career.”

— Dr. CK Bray, CEO, Adaption Institute, and author of Best Job Ever

“A successful career change requires both an internal search and an external search.  Switchers is that unique guide that helps you to manage both dimensions.  As a psychologist, Dawn can help you overcome internal obstacles and fears of change. As a career coach to business professionals, Dawn also gives you the tools to convince an employer that you are the best person for the job, even if you don’t have the experience specified in the written job description.”

— Roy Young, CEO and Founder of Beyond B-School

Learn More

Visit the website to learn more about the book and its author.
Watch the recent webinar to learn strategies for getting where you want to go.
Subscribe to the podcast to hear from experts about career management.