Becky Robinson's Blog, page 68

Old Technology Never Dies

Remember vinyl records? How about film cameras?

Today vinyl is the fastest growing sector of the music industry. Given up for dead only a few years ago, artists now release on vinyl in addition to digital downloads and CDs. The manufacturers who halted production on turntables are reopening factories and bringing the product line back.

Analog photography, also given up for dead, is making a comeback. One industry study showed that almost 1/3 of the people shooting film are under 35.

Since the growth in film and vinyl is mainly a millennial phenomenon, it would be easy to point to hipster nostalgia at work. And from the way Urban Outfitters and Lomography are marketing vinyl and film respectively, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking that.

True, there’s a bit of nostalgia. Analog technology is perceived, right or wrong, as being more authentic than digital.

Others argue that film is better than digital in terms of the quality of the final print. And music on vinyl, according to the aficionados, has a warmer, fuller sound quality.

But for those of us on the bleeding edge of digital marketing, there’s a powerful lesson here. Old technologies, old ways of doing things, never go away. There’s always people who still hold on to the old ways of doing things, not because they’re ignorant or “luddites,” but because they just like what they already have.

When the printing press arrived in Europe, the scribes and monks were probably considered passé. But it’s been 600 years and you can still buy calligraphy supplies at any arts supply store. When photography arrived, painters saw their very reason for being threatened. But down the aisle in that same art supply store you can buy oil paints, canvases, sketchpads, pencils, etc.

We assume that just because we’re far along on the adoption curve for new technology and social media tools, our clients and their customers are as well. So without even batting an eye, most social media marketing agencies will tell their clients to start shooting iPhone selfies. Never mind if the customers themselves are actually in a demographic that would be interested in following the client on Instagram, or if Instagram is even relevant for their market.

In the early years of the Web, the dot com years of the 90s, a similar groupthink took hold. Start-ups with (for the time) super-fast computers with super-fast connections built super-fast web sites that crashed the end users’ browsers. No one thought that a DSL or T1 connection was out of the ordinary, or that most users were still on dial-up.

Marketers make assumptions about consumer behavior all the time. Some of it is backed up by real market research. Sometimes it’s based on groupthink. If everyone around the conference table uses Snapchat, it’s easy to think everyone else does too.

To bring it back to the original point – when everyone you know listens to Spotify, it’s easy to forget that there’s a small but growing population of music listeners who prefer vinyl. They’re not old people holding out on progress. For the most part they’re younger, affluent, well-educated, and willing to spend on high-end audio equipment. In other words, those hold-outs might be a very desirable demographic.

Similarly, when everyone in the start-up is on the latest iPhone, it’s easy to think everyone else is and to build accordingly. But you can’t afford to assume a certain level of technological sophistication or adoption. Some people are fine with two-year-old iPhones or six-year-old laptops with obsolete processors.

It’s easy to leave a gaping hole in your product or marketing plan when you dismiss old ideas or technologies. It’s easy to think people using film, or ham radio operators, or backyard gardeners are just a small group of luddites. But you do so at your own risk.

A confession… For someone living in the digital age, I’m pretty analog. I shoot and develop black and white film. I still have a record player and hundreds of albums. And I’m a ham radio operator. And I know for a fact that I’m not alone.

 

Tell me something! What older technologies do you still enjoy using?

 

photo credit: niekverlaan

Featured on Friday: Meet TBB Member @Rebeccainjc

Earlier this week I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I was stopped by the smiling faces of two authors that I have had the privilege of working with (Bill Treasurer and David Greer). When Bill (who lives just across the mountain from me) found himself in David’s neck of the woods (3,000 miles to the west of us), he reached out via social media and they met up for breakfast. I believe that’s what Becky Robinson and Whitney Johnson would call a #TWIRL.

Much like our authors, the members of Team Buzz Builder are spread out around the world. Even though our promotional team has representatives in Australia, Kenya, the U.K., and Canada, today’s featured Buzz Builder lives in the town where I grew up, and just a few miles from where I live now. It is, indeed, a small world, and perhaps one of these days we’ll have to have a #TWIRL of our own!

Meet Rebecca Henderson

Rebecca Henderson owns Strategic Priorities Consulting, specializing in strategic planning, organizational design and development, and leadership implementation. She was recently honored for her work when Milligan College chose her to be a recipient of their “Leader in Christian Service” award. Rebecca has written a number of reviews on Amazon, and you can follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn. 

Why do you like being a part of Team Buzz Builder?

I love getting the books about leadership as it’s a subject I’m passionate about.  I’ve found that the books I receive through Team Buzz Builder (TBB) are always beyond the cutting edge, which helps me to stay at the top of my game.  There are so many good books about leadership out there, and I feel Becky and her team are highly selective about the authors with whom they work. Weaving Influence works hard, so that I don’t have to!

{NOTE: We did not pay her to say that, but I love it!}

What benefit do you think you receive from being a part of TBB?

I feel I get the gift of time; when something comes from Weaving Influence, I know I need to take the time to read and study it.  When I learn of other books about leadership (and often, they just claim to be, but really aren’t), I may waste several hours reading something that’s not worth my time.I feel, too, that when I post a review or promote through Twitter, my opinion really counts.  Others depend on what I say and think to sometimes determine what they may (or may not) choose to read and study.  I hope I’m making a positive impression on the next generation of leaders.

If someone asked you why they should join Team Buzz Builder, what would you tell them?

You should join TBB if you’re interested in influencing what others choose to read, and if you want to learn more about the leadership experience.  The more I learn about leadership, the more I realize that I truly don’t know much about the subject.  It’s always changing, always evolving into the next best practice.

Tell us more about your work/family/life/hobbies… the fun stuff!

I have a consultancy,  Strategic Priorities Consulting.  It’s just me, and that’s by design.  I specialize in strategic planning, but also assist clients with organizational design and development and leadership implementation.  My passion is nonprofit work;  I really enjoy helping nonprofits with geeky things like bylaws and governance issues.   I try to incorporate Christ into all that I do, especially the work that will be noticed by others.I enjoy reading, and could easily read a book a day.  For strictly fun, I enjoy chick-lit, especially if it’s centered in the South.

Special thanks to Rebecca for sharing a little bit about herself and her Buzz Building experience! It’s always fun to learn more about the person behind the reviews and promotion.

Interested in joining Rebecca and the others as part of our Buzz Building team? Sign up today! If you’re an active Buzz Builder and would like to be Featured on Friday, send me an email!

How to Get a Hundred Amazon Reviews in One Day

This week, my team and I are supporting the launch of Mark Miller’s 5th book, Chess Not Checkers.

Since the book opened up for reviews yesterday, more than 100 people have shared Amazon reviews on the book. This completely exceeded even our best assumptions about the number of reviews we might see in a book’s first week. For context, I typically tell clients that receiving 50 reviews in the first month or so after launch indicates great success.

One of the key performance indicators we attend to is gaining Amazon reviews. In order to fuel early Amazon reviews, we work to get our clients’ books out into the world in advance of their publication dates/launch weeks, so that people have time to read and enjoy the content and are prepared to write reviews.

For the launch of Chess Not Checkers we had a distinct advantage in working toward Amazon reviews because we received advance, finished copies more than a month prior to the publication date. Additionally, Chess Not Checkers, written in business parable style, is a fast and engaging read, which increased the likelihood that people receiving early copies would actually read them in order to review them.

We also had the luxury of sending the largest number of books out, to date. We sent advance copies to over 1200 people in the US, including not only one print edition of the book as a gift — but two: one to read, and one to share. In effect, for every book we mailed, we hoped to reach at least two readers.

And, we send a digital download link to over 100 readers around the world, extending the international reach of the book.

In case you’re doing the math, yes, this represents a huge financial investment in advance reader copies.

Mark funded this generous outreach because of his deeply held belief that books are seeds. It’s his desire to make as big a difference as possible for leaders and organizations. From past experience, Mark knows that giving books away is a catalyst that actually results in more book sales over time. Since he gives the profits from his books to charity, he uses a gift of a book to fuel and fund more giving.

Here are four more reasons this tactic worked well for Mark and four ways you can set the stage for a successful book launch:

This is Mark’s 5th book. It’s far easier to gain traction for repeat authors than it is for first time authors. People who have enjoyed and bought Mark’s previous books will look out for his new books. Having other books give Mark credibility in the market as an author. Much of the loyalty of Mark’s online community comes from their interaction with and appreciation for his past titles.

Book launch success lesson: Be patient as a first-time author. The investment you make in your first book will result in greater success with subsequent books.

Mark has built a committed community of readers and followers. What I want to write is: people love Mark and the content he creates. Perhaps it’s a bit of his position as an executive at Chick-fil-A or his humble and kind interactions with others. Maybe it’s the accessibility and universal applicability of the lessons he shares. I have received so many emails throughout our time working with Mark from people who indicate the ways his content and example have made a difference for them. Mark consistently offers value through his 3X a week blog posts. He inspires, through his in-person life and online following, people’s confidence and commitment.

Book launch success lesson: Bring the best of who you have to the world, and people will respond to that.

Be strategic in your investment of energy in building influence online. In the 2 1/2 years that my team and I have supported Mark’s online presence, we’ve worked to see his Twitter following grow to more than 30X the number of followers he had when we began. His email list has grow to more than 7X its starting place. These numbers represent people who regularly read Mark’s blog content and appreciate the value he brings to the world. When we made the offer for the advance copies of the book, we reached out to anyone who had subscribed to his blog, downloaded a free resource, or purchased a resource in his store. More than 20% of those people requested a book. The only request we made was that if people enjoyed the book, they would leave a review. From past experience, we’ve seen that about 10% of people receiving a book will follow through to leave an Amazon review.

Book launch success lesson: Building an online community by consistently sharing valuable content is an important foundation for book launch success.

We made our request for reviews very clear. One of my basic assumptions is that people will not leave Amazon reviews unless you ask them to. We’ve been asking. We mentioned it in our original offer of a free copy; we mentioned it in the printed letter I sent out with books; we’ve repeated the request in subsequent emails and social media updates. While some authors are uncomfortable making an outright request, very few people will prioritize this unless you make a direct request.

Book launch success lesson: Ask for what you’d like. Help people understand the ways they can best support your book launch.

What does all this mean? Are Amazon reviews a strong predictor of a book’s success? To be honest, we’re still learning and exploring.

At a minimum, Amazon reviews provide substantial social proof. Gathering many positive reviews at the start of a launch positions a book well for sales. Additionally, the time and thought people bring to Amazon reviews demonstrates an important investment each reviewer is making in a book and its success. Someone who writes a review is more likely to tweet, share on other social channels, or blog about a book.

My team and I are going to be digging deeper into the data, analyzing trends, and will share what we learn with you.

Tell me something! Do you view Amazon reviews as an important metric? Why or why not?

Featured on Friday: #WindInYourSails Author @djgreer

Spring has finally arrived in the Appalachian Mountains where I live (after a last gasp of snow a week ago), and I’m enjoying longer days with open windows. Although I love my mountain home, there are certainly aspects of living by the ocean that I miss from my days in New England. The sun bouncing off the waves, the sound of the sea, the smell of the salt air – it never gets old for me.

Today’s author is no stranger to sun, wind, and sea, having spent a portion of 2014 sailing across the Atlantic with friends. After years in the business realm, he has launched out once again to help entrepreneurs find success, using his passions for sailing, coaching, and entrepreneurship as inspiration for his new book, Wind In Your Sails.

Meet David Greer

According to his bio, David is the catalyst who gets you to fully live your dreams now. After time with him you feel equally scared and hopeful. Scared at the audacity of your dreams and hopeful because you have someone in your corner with the experience and desire to see your dreams become real.

His brand promise to clients is: spend one hour reading his book, attend a one hour talk with him, or get one hour of 1-to-1 coaching and you will have 3 concrete action items that will shift and accelerate your business within 90 days. He wrote a post about this promise last month on his blog, and I’d encourage you to pop over to learn more.

David and his wife Karalee are committed to each other and their three children, spending time supporting them in the many and varied activities they are involved with. They live in Vancouver, Canada.

When David’s not changing lives, taking photos, or sailing across the seas, you can find him blogging on his website, Coach David J. Greer.

Connect with David Online

David has been a long-time user of social media, and he’d love to personally connect with you on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and his Coach David J. Greer Website.

Support the Launch of Wind In Your Sails – April 13-17!

In a little over a week, you’re invited to join us as we help David officially launch, Wind In Your Sails. You can find it at several online retailers, including Amazon (U.S. | Canada), Barnes & Noble, and Kobo (additional links found HERE).

If you already have a copy, don’t forget to leave a review at any or all of those sites, and add it to your “read” or “to read” shelf on Goodreads.

If you’d like to get involved by telling your online communities about it, bookmark the book’s website for tweets to share and graphics to pin and promote.

A Note from the Author

From Carrie: I’ve known David for almost 3 years now, and worked with him in various capacities, so I thought it would be fun to do something a little differently for this Featured on Friday and allow the Author to speak directly to you. Say hello to David Greer!

I’ve worked with Carrie for years and known Becky Robinson even longer. As an entrepreneur and coach, I am thrilled at the success that Becky has had in building and growing Weaving Influence. I wrote Wind In Your Sails to help entrepreneurs like Becky accelerate their growth. I can hardly wait for the official launch April 13-17, 2015 with the support of the entire Weaving Influence community. Every one of Becky’s team and all of the WI community have an incredible impact on making positive change for all of us.

A Refirement Story

Tom attends many of our events, and reached out recently with his personal story of refiring. It’s from a book we promoted earlier this year, which emphasizes approaching “the rest of life” with enthusiasm rather than apathy, seeing each day as an opportunity for adventure and learning. Tom’s story is a great example of this, and  I hope you’ll find it inspiring!

For the past 10+ years I have been transitioning through my “halftime,” taking low cost probes into various fields while still working full-time. (See www.halftime.org for more on the book and the organization.)

I joined the Board of the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate in my area, became active in a local Young Life chapter, and participated in Halftime Institute events including a one-year round-table group. This group helps people really connect with their God-given talents, explore their strengths and weaknesses, and then move toward a plan to experiment with “second half” options. The concept is to move from the first half of your life, which was focused on success, to a second half focused on significance.

Your halftime is where you define your core, explore new options, and understand your passions and who you were meant to be. Ken and Margie Blanchard have worked closely with Halftime in the past with a particular focus on servant leadership.

Around the same time I was doing the Halftime round-table, I also initiated a leadership training class at my workplace… one that was focused on people. I used Mark Miller’s The Heart of Leadership as one of the references for the class. It was great fun and got the team thinking on a much more human and deep level about the people they lead. This has now expanded to several concurrent classes that are led by others from the original group.

Last October I retired from Kollmorgen Corporation after 34 years, 25 of them with Kollmorgen. Since then, I have been mentoring younger leaders and spending considerable time with charities helping them in various ways. My calendar is actually pretty full, but full of great stuff with more eternal importance than making the next quarter’s numbers. My wife and I are continuing to explore new areas to serve.

Refirement for me means spending most of my time with people/organizations that match with my personal mission statement of “encouraging individuals to discover and pursue their passions of significance.”

I just wrote a forward for a workforce engagement project and recalled the joy associated with mentoring associates and watching them grow personally and professionally. Thirty-four years in the workforce and it wasn’t my patents, or million dollar orders, or meeting quarterly goals… it was all about growing people! That’s what Mark speaks about in his series of leadership books…servant leadership with a heart for people.

I’m still in my fifties so I have to work for a while, but the work I take on is going to make a difference in people’s lives.

Refirement for me is just doing things of significance for the next 30+ years… or however long I am blessed to be here.

 

Tell me something! What does refirement mean for you?

 

Tom England is former Director of Market Development at Kollmorgen Corporation. As an electrical engineer, he has worked in design, applications, and marketing & sales for motion control systems globally. He holds 4 patents in the field and has been published in IEEE proceedings. He and his wife Becky live in Virginia, and have 3 adult daughters spread across the country.

 

 

Featured on Friday: #ChessNotCheckers Author Mark Miller @LeadersServe

Today’s featured author is no stranger to the Weaving Influence blog. We’ve talked about the lessons from his books, his impact on our team, and his rather unique gift giving skills.

In August I wrote a post about him (and his co-author, Ken Blanchard) as we prepared for the launch of The Secret: 10th Anniversary Edition. Eight months later it’s time to introduce him (again) as we get ready to support his NEW book, Chess Not Checkers.

Meet Mark Miller (Again!)

Mark began working as an hourly team member with Chick-fil-A in 1977. Since making the transition to the corporate level in 1978, he has provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Training and Development, and Organizational Effectiveness. Today he serves as the Vice President for Leadership Development.

When he’s not busy “selling chicken” as he likes to say, Mark is best-selling author and communicator. Over the years, he’s traveled extensively around the world, teaching for numerous international organizations. As a photographer, he enjoys taking pictures in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places, including Mount Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and the jungles of Rwanda.

When he’s not working with Chick-fil-A, writing books, or spending time with his family, you can find him blogging on his website, Great Leaders Serve.

Connect with Mark Online

There are plenty of ways to keep up with Mark, including: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and his Great Leaders Serve Website

Support the Launch of Chess Not Checkers – April 6-10!

Coming up in about a week, we’re inviting you to join with us as we help Mark celebrate the launch of his fifth book, Chess Not Checkers. Get involved by telling your online communities about it using the resources found HERE.

One thing you won’t want to miss is our EXCLUSIVE webinar with Mark, hosted by Becky Robinson.  Put a hold on your calendars for April 6 at 12 pm (ET), and register today! As with all of our webinars, it’s completely free to join, so bring a friend to this 45-minute Q & A session with a much sought after speaker and teacher. 

Don’t forget to check out book’s NEW website, and start spreading the word as we get ready for the launch. Ready to up your leadership game? Start by reading Chess Not Checkers and the join us for an exciting launch, starting April 6!

You Tell Me! What’s your favorite book by Mark Miller?

RIDE or HALT? Choices on “Communication Road”

One of the most useful things I ever did was to volunteer as a counselor on a telephone crisis hotline. I thought I was there to help others. It turns out that I was the one who gained the most. That experience impacts the way I converse with friends (and strangers) who tell me their problems.

Having been a crisis counselor, and having been trained on the RIDE model, influences the way I conduct myself on social media too.

Let’s start with the RIDE model.

R is for Relationship

The very first component of an interaction with someone in crisis is establishing a relationship. Especially in a phone conversation, the two of you can’t see one another and can’t read each other’s non-verbals, so it is even more important to establish rapport and trust.

I is for Identify the Problem

Any time you have entered into a conversation with someone when there is an expectation on their part that you are going to help them, it is helpful to cut through some of the “noise” to determine what is the most pressing issue. Often, what the person says is their problem is more of a symptom.

D is for Deal with Feelings

It is so tempting to skip this step. People who have chosen to volunteer as counselors often do so because they want to fix things. Allowing someone to express their feelings, to let out their sadness, or to vent their anger, is a critical part of the process.

E is for Explore Alternatives

You have a rapport with each other, you have a sense of the primary problem, and your caller has been able to express their feelings and let off some steam. Once that has all been done, it is time to explore alternatives. With someone in crisis, it is often true that they see alternatives that they were blind to once they have done steps one, two, and three. Perspective is a good thing.

Social media didn’t exist when I was a crisis counselor. People had relationships either in person, on the phone, or by letter. Now that we have so many electronic ways to get to know one another, our interactions are in jeopardy of coming to a grinding HALT when they could RIDE together instead:

H is for Hesitant to Engage

I am a social media nut but I know that it is easy to let quick social media interactions replace the hard work involved in really establishing relationships with people. A “we should have lunch” that never quite  happens, a text or phone call to say “you sounded frustrated in that last status update,” an old-fashioned conversation can make someone’s day.

A is for Avoidance

It takes mental energy to focus on what someone is really saying. 140 characters in a tweet only scratches the surface. A Facebook status is someone’s “best face.” Don’t people in our lives deserve our undivided attention for at least a few minutes?

L is for Losing Interest

I frankly get a little tired of the frequent (and, admittedly, humorous as well as true) references on social media to how quickly we switch gears to the next shiny thing (have you seen a reference to “Squirrel!” at least once this week?). Relationships are about sharing the excitement of the novel as well as the monotony of the mundane. Stay on task. You would want someone to do that for you, wouldn’t you?

T is for Telling Instead of Asking

As a parent, I fastidiously avoid telling my children what to do (on the premise that when the idea goes south it will be my fault). Adults shouldn’t do that either — people have a better chance of succeeding at resolving their problems if it was their idea in the first place. It’s the skillful and caring friend who takes the time to help them navigate their way toward their own resolution.

Where will your road take you? Will you go for a RIDE or screech to a HALT?

 

Photo Credits: WWW image, RIDE image

How To Get Greater Traction for Your Book

Thousands of business books are published each year, and few find an audience outside an author’s already existing community of colleagues and friends.

We are constantly looking for ways to help our clients’ books create the biggest impact possible by first mobilizing our clients’ existing networks, next mobilizing the networks of readers we’ve established, and then reaching out through social and digital media to create the biggest impact possible.

We know a book has traction when two things happen:

People are inspired to share the book and its content with their online communities, helping increase its reach.
People engage with our authors to access resources beyond the book.

One of the questions I’m asked most often is this one: how do you measure success? How do you quantify an ever expanding audience?

The most basic and reliable measure is the size of an author’s email subscriber list. Authors who have a large email list of subscribers interested in their content have a larger pool of people to whom they are becoming a valuable resource. The size of their list often determines the success of their launch. A larger list equals more book sales during launch week, more Amazon reviews posted, and more social sharing and reach of a book.

For this reason, we constantly seek ways to help our clients attract people to join their email lists.

One of the most powerful ways we’ve found is through the Credspark Quiz.

In late 2013, Weaving Influence partnered with CredSpark for help in publishing quizzes based on the topics of our authors’ books. Several Weaving Influence clients and friends, including Karin Hurt, Chip Bell, Dennis and Michelle Reina and Jamie and Maren Showkier published quizzes on CredSpark in 2014.

Here’s a recent and powerful case study:

Next week, we’ll launch Bonnie Marcus’ book, The Politics of Promotion. As part of our book launch services, we partnered with CredSpark to help Bonnie quiz her audience on what they knew (or didn’t) about the challenges of women being promoted. Here are some key insights that Bonnie gathered, by running a quiz.

• Bonnie’s audience has a good grasp on the differences between male and female networking behavior, as well as on the most effective practices around promoting one’s achievements.

• On the other hand, her audience has a poor grasp of the notion of Sponsorship (as distinct from Mentorship) and how it can advance womens’ career goals.

• Bonnie’s audience is 83% female, and 66% mid-level management or above.

• The Best Finding? 57% of people opted-in to Bonnie’s mailing list as a result of taking the quiz. Bonnie’s quiz engaged people deeply on her topic, and made people realize they could benefit from Bonnie’s guidance on an ongoing basis.

These statistic are powerful evidence that Credspark challenges drive our most important metric: opt-ins to an author’s mailing list.

With Bonnie’s expanded network, we created additional traction for her upcoming book launch.

We’d love to partner with you toward greater impact by driving growth of the metrics that matter most to you. How can we and our friends at CredSpark help you? Email me today to start the conversation!

Featured on Friday: #PoliticsOfPromotion Author Bonnie Marcus @selfpromote

Another week, another book launch for the Weaving Influence team. Today’s the final day of the official launch week for new author, Stacy Feiner. The longer I work in the book promotion world, the more I understand the power of word of mouth AND word of mouse.

One of the easiest (FREE) ways to support an author – whether it’s their first book or their 21st book – is to leave a review on Amazon. If you’ve been a part of any of our launches this year and haven’t left a review yet for one or all of them, it’s never too late!

While you’re at Amazon leaving all those reviews, don’t forget to pick up a copy of the new book from today’s author…

Meet Bonnie Marcus

Award-winning entrepreneur and Forbes and Business Insider contributing writer Bonnie Marcus, M.Ed., has real conversations for real women in the workplace today. The President of Women’s Success Coaching, she assists women to navigate the workplace and advance their careers.

With 20+ years of sales and management experience, Bonnie’s background includes CEO and VP of Sales at three national companies. She has held executive positions in both start-up and Fortune 500 companies s.

Bonnie started her career at an entry level position and worked up to the top of a national company using her savvy promotion and relational skills. Her passion is to help other women learn to be sensitive to the culture of their organizations, embrace the politics, and actively move their careers forward.

She is also the author of The Politics of Promotion: How High-Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead (launching March 23 – 27).

Connect with Bonnie Online:

Visit The Politics of Promotion book site, follow her on Twitter, connect on Facebook and LinkedIn, and visit her YouTube channel.

Learn More About The Politics of Promotion

The Politics of Promotion offers women the tools and guidance they need to successfully navigate the realities of their organizations, emphasizing the need to understand office politics to get the promotions and recognition they deserve.

The Politics of Promotion is officially launching on March 23 . Find it on Amazon, or download to your Kindle or Kindle reading app.

If you’re a part of the launch team who received a preview copy, reviews can be added NOW on Amazon and Goodreads, or after March 23rd on Barnes & Noble.

On Thursday, March 26th at 1 pm (ET), Bonnie will be joining Becky Robinson for a FREE, 1 hour webinar. Bonnie will be sharing tools and ideas to help you overcome the obstacles that are standing in the way of reaching your career goals. It sounds like a great event, so sign up today! (registration link | learn more).

If you’d like to learn more about The Politics of Promotion (or find resources to share with your online communities), you should bookmark the book’s website where you can download a sample chapter, grab promotional graphics to share online, and find a link for savings on bulk orders.

Visit the website | Order the Book | Register for the FREE webinar | Buy in Bulk

You Tell Me:  Have you dealt with politics in the workplace? What’s your best tip for young professionals who have hit a hidden ceiling?

3 Tools to Help You Work Smarter and Faster

Anyone who works with their hands—chefs, carpenters, artists—will tell you that having the right tools for the right job is a critical factor in the quality of their work. It’s the same for those of us in content marketing. Yes, it’s important to have great ideas, but if clunky methods or outdated delivery systems keep your message from being seen in a timely manner, those great ideas don’t have a chance.

Here at Weaving Influence, we are constantly on the lookout for better tools to help us do our work more efficiently and at a higher-level. We always want to improve and we’re sure you do, too.

That’s why we’ve gathered a list of our 3 current favorites. These are the tools helping us work smarter for our clients right now.

Buffer for Social Scheduling

We’ve tried a lot of different programs to schedule content across channels, and Buffer best meets our needs and our clients’ needs. Buffer allows us to schedule on Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ from one dashboard.  We can upload original and curated content, Buffer-curated content, and our favorite—we can schedule retweets! The option to schedule retweets helps us keep our clients’ newsfeeds interesting and active without overwhelming followers. This feature alone is worth the price of admission! Of course, Buffer has a free service available if you want to use it for your personal social maintenance, and a professional service that allows you to manage multiple accounts. The only drawbacks—Facebook posting isn’t fully functional yet, and we would love the option to share more than one photo per post.  Those are small complaints. Plus, Buffer is such a responsive company, we’re sure those features will be available soon.

Infusionsoft and MailChimp for Email

We’ve been fans of MailChimp for some time. The service has a lot of functionality. It’s dependable and more intuitive than other programs we’ve tried. We use it to set up RSS feeds and send regular email updates. It has both free and paid options. As much as we love MailChimp, we’ve started using an additional email program because we need more functionality. We’ve recently turned to Infusionsoft for auto-responders and more list management options. This service is pricey and not as intuitive as MailChimp, however once you master the learning curve, Infusionsoft can really deliver.

ReciteThis and Canva for Images

We are fortunate to work with some truly gifted graphic designers, but they aren’t available for all of our social posting. Sometimes we need to create an image on the fly.  That’s when we turn to ReciteThis or Canva.  ReciteThis couldn’t be easier and it takes just minutes. There are about a dozen or more backgrounds. You just copy and paste in your quote and select a background. That’s it. You have a beautiful quote image that will help increase reach and engagement on your posts. If you want to get a little more sophisticated, take that quote and head over to PixlrExpress and give it some special effects.  Canva is also a great option to create original images. It has some templates you can use to make your photos really come to life with text. Canva takes more time and effort but the results are totally Pin-worthy!

These are just a few of tools we love.

What helps you work smarter? We would love to hear your favorites.