Becky Robinson's Blog, page 70

Facebook’s New Call-to-Action Button & How to Benefit from It

If there is one truth about Facebook, it’s that the social channel is always changing. Some changes turn out to be terrific.  Some are a huge challenge. (We’re talking about you, algorithm change that limited reach of branded pages!)  This latest change could have some real value for branded pages.

Facebook is rolling out a call-to-action button. Facebook says the button will “bring a business’s most important objective to the forefront of its Facebook presence.”

This is how it will work: the CTA button will have seven actions. You get to choose which one best fits your business objective. Here are the options:

Book Now
Contact us
Use App
Play Game
Shop Now
Sign Up
Watch Video

The button is editable, so you can direct fans anywhere you would like them to go: your website, Amazon page, YouTube, email subscriber list or a custom landing page. Weaving Influence clients might benefit from linking to a microsite. You can change the button or where it directs your fans at anytime, too.  Your imagination is the limit here.

The Dollar Shave Club helped test the feature. Over the trial run, Dollar Shave Club’s Director of Acquisition, Brian Kim, said the CTA button helped deliver 2.5x the conversion rate of other social placements designed to drive new users. For brands with tight budgets, the button could be an effective tool to drive sales or actions, with no additional spending necessary.

While the benefits are many, this isn’t a magic button. It’s new, so fans aren’t going to be familiar with it right away. It’s located beside the “Like” button on your Facebook page, so fans have to visit your page to find it. To make the CTA button work for you, you’re going to need to get creative. You might consider a giveaway of some type that brings fans to your page. You might encourage fans to check out your page via a post. A cover photo that highlights the button is another option.

You’ll have time to really consider how you would like to use the button and how it can best benefit your business, because the button will be rolled out incrementally. The CTA button will start popping up over the next few weeks in the United States and over the next year worldwide. Keep checking your page!

Thanks Facebook — this is one change we can get behind!

 

How do you plan to leverage the new call-to-action button?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Into a New Year: Focus for 2015

One of my important habits of a leader is crafting a weekly email to my team, outlining upcoming events and setting the pace for the week ahead.

Since we’re a virtual company, it’s an important touch point and writing to the team is a habit I’m happy to have established. The email provides a chance for me to connect with the team, to show that I care about them, to be human, and to help everyone see how their work fits into the larger picture of our company.

As we begin the year, I also sent a note outlining our two focus areas for the year ahead.

To win in 2015, our team will focus on two main areas: creating capacity and refining processes.

Creating Capacity One of our company values is growth. This refers to growing/expanding as a company and to individual growth. In order for us to grow, we must create capacity for that growth, individually and corporately. If we are going to grow as a company, we must continually look for and add talented people to our team. (We’ve just posted an opening!) If we are going to grow individually, we need to be in a process of continually learning how we can personally increase our capacity.

Refining Processes We are working to refine processes, both processes involving delivery to clients and internal processes. We want to refine our processes for delivering to clients to increased clarity so that we can create the greatest possibility for fantastic results. Internally, we want to streamline and simplify processes to save time and eliminate overhead and unnecessary pre-work.

In order to provide greater focus, I am choosing specific subcategories of these two initiatives to hone in on each quarter. For the first quarter, I am working specifically on creating capacity on our project management team (thus, our recent posting), refining our hiring process, and refining our training/onboarding processes.

Tell me something! What are your focus areas as you move into the new year?

If you’re looking for additional inspiration as you move into 2015, check out the posts in the Leadership Development Carnival, which I’m hosting at leadchangegroup.com for 22 amazing posts with inspiration for the year ahead.

Another Great Year

It’s been another great and busy year at Weaving Influence, and we are preparing for an even bigger year in 2015.

Here Are A Few Highlights (in no particular order)

The Development Of Our Book Marketing Microsite – This year, we created a template/website to use for all our book launch efforts. The one page site is mobile responsive and incorporates all of our best practices, gathering all needed resources for book marketing in one place. We’ve been refining our process in creating microsites so we can complete them faster. It’s exciting to have a strong web offering at the center of our book launch offer. We have 5 microsites in process now, set to go live soon and we completed 15 this year. Curious? Check out an example.
Lead Change Group Acquisition – After providing behind the scenes support for LeadChangeGroup.com for several years, I agreed to take the torch from Mike Henry, Sr. who founded the group. We now own and administer the Lead Change Group site. We launched a new website on October 1st, and have been working to amplify the content to reach more readers and provide more value. We are grateful for the members, instigators, and Leading Voices who contribute original content to the site. We look forward to making an even bigger difference through the Lead Change Group in 2015.
New Partnerships To Help Us Creatively Differentiate Content – This year, we began collaborating with ThinkAha on the Aha Amplifier, with CredSpark on creating challenges based on our content, and with Actionable Books on book summaries. We are always looking for ways to help our clients extend the reach of their messages as creatively as possible.
Deepened Relationships With Media Partners – We are grateful for the journalists and editors on major digital sites online who have highlighted our authors this year. We truly view these media friends as important contributors to our work and success and to the success our authors are enjoying. I am so grateful for these relationships and look forward to developing more.
A Growing, Committed, Talented Team – We’ve added several team members this year and had some team members increase their time commitment to Weaving Influence projects. I’m grateful for the commitment, discipline, energy, and focus each individual on our team brings. I could not be more proud of my team and the community and culture we are building.
Improvements Behind The Scenes – We’ve worked hard this year to refine internal processes to set ourselves up for long-term stability and success. I’ve learned that small tweaks like changing pay schedules and invoicing practices have made a big difference. And big investments pay off big! We invested in an upgraded CRM (Infusionsoft) and have seen great results, especially in streamlining some of our book launch processes. While we have more room to improve and more changes planned in the year ahead, I am thankful for progress.
Amazing Clients – We are blessed to serve the most wonderful people. Each client we serve truly seeks to make a difference through their content and we are honored to support them. With each book we launch and each project we begin, I learn so much from the people with whom we are privileged to work.
A Giveaway – We had fun this year celebrating two years in business and giving away a signed book every week for most of the year. What’s more fun than giving great books away? Creating buzz for each other as a result of the giveaway!
Team Buzz Builder – Our network of bloggers are consistently supportive of our book launches and authors. Their enthusiasm and support is tremendous. I considered each blogger an important part of our Weaving Influence family.

A Few Person Highlights

Opportunities To Speak – I enjoyed the chance to present at the BK Author Co-Op Marketing Event this summer in San Francisco and an opportunity to do my first keynote speech.  I love speaking and I’d love to present at your event.
My First marathon  – I ran my first marathon in April of this year. Training for a marathon seemed like a crazy undertaking in the midst of running my growing business, but it worked. Discipline creates more discipline.
Meeting Clients & Team Members In Person – This November, I met our web developer, John Marcello, for the first time, after working together for nearly two years. I also met several other subcontractors and spent time with clients in person. This face-time is one of my biggest joys and I hope for more opportunities to meet with clients, team members, and collaborators/partners in 2015.

Though this road is never easy, I am beyond blessed and beyond grateful for this work and for all the people this work touches.

The Year in Review: Lessons from 2014 Books

Over the next few blog posts, I’m going to highlight some lessons, milestones, and progress this year from our business, so you can celebrate and learn with us.

Today’s post pulls in a few lessons from books we launched this year, with gratitude to the authors and the wisdom their books bring.

If it’s business, it’s personal. This lesson is pulled from Susan Fowler and her book Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work and What Does. The work we do is inherently personal. We work with and for people. It’s never “just business.” Even though our team works virtually, we spend much of our time collaborating and interacting, and we are each affected by our work and our work is affected by what happens outside of work. Every day, we deal with aging/ill family members, juggle our family commitments, enjoy hobbies, or find space for rest — and we seek to bring our best to our work. The more personal we are, the more effective our work is.

Opportunity begets opportunity. Bill Treasurer’s book, Leaders Open Doors, contains the helpful lesson that focus on opportunity is powerful! One of the greatest joys for me in this business is in creating opportunities for others to use their gifts and abilities while enjoying flexible work. When I find opportunities for our company, I create opportunities for others.

Values matter! This year, we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on our core values and how we express them through our work and culture. Chris Edmonds’ book, The Culture Engine provided helpful reinforcement and clarification about the importance of formalizing our purpose and values as we intentionally create an inspiring workplace. Read more about our journey in this post by Chris or in this series of posts by our team.

Great leaders serve. Mark Miller and Ken Blanchard’s book, The Secret, reminded our team of the importance of serving others. “A key question you must continually ask yourself is `Am I a self-serving leader or a serving leader?'” The powerful words of Miller and Blanchard’s classic book have fueled us to focus on how we can serve others.

Every day, we can choose. We’ve talked a lot about choice this year. Each day, we can choose: our perspective, attitude, and actions are something we each control. Frank Sonnenberg’s book, Follow Your Conscience, provided great thought-provoking inspiration that reminded us that we each choose and “each decision helps to define who we are.”

Check out more of the wonderful books we promoted this year and buy a few as holiday gifts. The leaders in your life will thank you!

Interval Training for Business (H/T @johnsonwhitney)

Prior to Thanksgiving, I felt the most extreme burnout that I’ve ever felt in my business.

As I considered how to move through the burnout to renewed energy to finish the year strong, I reached out to my friend Whitney Johnson.

I’d been contemplating going completely dark during the holiday weekend: shutting off my phone and disconnecting completely from work. But the more I thought about it, the more anxiety I felt about the mound of work that I would face at the end of the weekend.

Whitney turned from talk about work to one my favorite topics, running. “Do you interval train when you run?” she asked.

The truth is… no. I’ve done some speed work, which is a kind of interval training. Mostly, I run at the most difficult pace I can comfortably sustain, every time I go out.

Just like I work. All out, all the time.

Whitney encouraged me to consider altering my pace by giving myself freedom, especially over weekends and holidays, to adopt a slower pace by choosing to do whatever I want to in the moment. For example, I could choose to watch mindless TV for a period of time, and then later I could choose a work activity. Rather than pile myself with the guilt of have-tos and I-musts, I can choose, in every hour, what I most want to do.

Following her advice, after unplugging on Thanksgiving itself, I clocked 6 1/2 hours work over the weekend, which was more than enough time for me to enter the week prepared instead of overwhelmed.

I also took my kids shopping, played cards beside our Christmas tree, went to a movie and out to lunch with kids/friends, and took the girls roller skating. I read for-fun books, stayed in bed later than normal, and went running with a friend.

I created a weekend of intervals, going fast and slow, and started December with more energy than I’ve felt in a while.

The idea of interval training in my business has been in the forefront of my mind through this busy month and I have been mindfully choosing to pace myself, taking 45 minutes at the start of my workday on Wednesday to tidy my kitchen and put dinner in the crockpot — arriving at my desk at 9, when I would typically dive headlong and all-out into work at 7:30.

If you find yourself burned out or depleted, consider your pace: could you vary your pace to find renewed energy and purpose? How can you structure your life to create more freedom and enjoyment?

Tell me something! Have you tried interval training? What do you do to renew your energy when you feel depleted?

Featured on Friday: A List of Links You DON’T Want to Miss!

Happy December! It’s the last month of 2014 and the Weaving Influence Team is hard at work, getting ready for a plethora of launches in the new year. It’s always exciting to see what is heading our way, and 2015 is going to be a truly outstanding book launch year! We have a few new sign up opportunities for you (with more to come), plus links to several great articles featuring our current authors. So sit back, pour yourself another cup of coffee, and start clicking!

February 2015 Launch Teams

February 2 – 5, 2015: Sign up to become a part of the launch team for The Hidden Leader by Scott Edinger and Laurie Sain.
February 2 – 5, 2015: Join the Ken Blanchard and Morton Shaevitz as they launch their first book together, Refire! Don’t Retire – sign up today !
February 9 – 13, 2015: Chip Bell is at it again and launching his new book, Sprinkles. Be among the first to join his team !
Coming Soon: Joanie Connell‘s launch of Flying without a Helicopter: How to Prepare Young People for Work and Life is taking place February 23 – 27, 2015!

Links to Share

John Spence is talking about 2 books that he calls, “life changing” – including one by our November book launch author, Frank Sonnenberg!
As our team grows, so does our need to communicate clearly. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you might enjoy John Stoker’s post on connecting with different communication styles.
A little shout out to our very own Becky Robinson for her terrific post on the Lead Change Group today: Beyond the Bottom Line .
Linda Pulley Freeman recently returned from another life-changing trip to Cambodia, and she’s urging us all to embrace our own power  and make a difference in the world.

In Case You Missed It…

Have any young people in your life or business? Don’t wait to start developing them as leaders! Great post from Julie Winkle Giulioni over at Halogen Software.
This post , by Chris Edmonds, is a MUST READ for anyone in business, no matter what their position or what size team they work with.
Chip Bell is comparing – you KNOW this is a post you’ll want to read! Don’t forget to his posts on LinkedIn.
Gershon Mader wrote a great post about the past and the future. As we wind down the old year and start thinking about the new, this post needs to be on your “to read” list.

Clearing the (Mental) Clutter

I cleaned out my closet over the weekend and packed up more than 5 bags of clothes to donate.

Now my closet is more organized than it’s probably ever been. I can see my clothes. It’s tidy, orderly, and wonderful.

I cleaned out my dresser, too — which means I can actually open and close my drawers. Putting away laundry, something I typically avoid, will be much easier now.

I feel lighter, and by more than the weight of the clothes I’m removing from my closet and drawers.

So it fits that Sunday’s newsletter from Chris Brogan included encouragement to clear the mental clutter. “Your mental shelves are full to bursting and there’s stuff all over the floor around them.”

Though Chris referenced information overload, he inspired me to think, instead, about what’s weighing me down mentally and emotionally.

You know, those less-than-helpful thoughts that creep in?

Lies.

I call them lies, but I live like I believe they are true.

What is true: I am enough. I am not a failure.

Unfortunately, though I bag up and banish those big, heavy bags of mental clutter on a regular basis, the lies somehow creep back in, one at a time, until (again) my mental shelves are stacked high and only an all-out purge will make it right.

Mental clutter drains my energy from more productive thinking.

I wish there was a way to get free once and for all,  recognizing the lies for what they are and getting rid of them forever.

But I’ve found that what works better is a daily commitment to choosing the truth instead. When I hear the lies, I can move them aside and remember the truth:

I am not a failure. I am enough. I can make a significant difference in the lives of others.

Tell me something! What mental clutter do you need to clear? Will you choose, today, to replace lies with truth?

Get Ready for Your Best Year Yet

It’s just a month until 2015. The time goes so fast. Are you prepared for the new year?

My challenge to you is to prepare for 2015 right now and use the month to fully prepare yourself to have an amazing year.

Think of the New Year as a hiking track, you need to get yourself physically and mentally prepared. Build some new skills and a game plan for the rough terrain ahead. For leaders, let me be clear, what got you here will not get you there.

The challenges are daunting. Not just because you have a big objective in 2015, because you’re leading people to accomplish your goal and the numbers, they’re stacked against us.

Three-quarters of your team or your organization are disengaged to some degree. At best your folks are sometimes motivated to go the extra mile and at worst they’re completely disinterested in what you want to accomplish as a leader. Studies even show that thirty percent of your team are wondering “does this person really even care about me?” and this is costing you big time. Definitely in productivity, but also in dollars and cents.

Did you know that for every $10,000 you pay a disengaged employee, it’s costing you up to $3,400? That’s staggering, and even if you don’t exactly fall into this situation, if you have even one person on your team or in your organization that’s less than completely committed, it’s having an impact on your results. You need your team to be their best and you can’t afford to settle for anything less anymore.

So here’s my challenge to everyone who leads a team or an organization, large or small. Certainly, make it a priority to achieve your goals in 2015, but make it your highest priority to be a better leader for your people and use the next month to get ready.

Let’s do it together!

For now, this is what I want you to do. First, write down what you want to achieve through your leadership in 2015. Be a specific as you can be for now and then go back and add details later as they emerge for you.

Next, and this is the most important part, is to declare your commitment to be a better leader for your people. For their sake and for the sake of the results you want to achieve. Your declaration might sound something like this — follow along with me, raise your right hand and say: “I am a leader who understands that I will only go as far as those that I am leading. Leading my people is my top priority every day. I’m committed to leading in a way where my people willingly volunteer their commitment, their passion, their creativity and their effort.”

So go out to Twitter or Facebook and post your commitment with the hashtag #PrepareFor2015.

I’m so excited to get started. I wish you all the best!

 

Jeff Harmon is a character driven, results focused coaching professional with over 20 years of experience building relationships to equip leaders and organizations to successfully execute on strategic priorities. Jeff is the owner and head coach for Brilliance Within Coaching and Consulting, a full-service business, personal and leadership coaching company; and author of The Anatomy of a Principled Leader and Become a Better Leader, 10 Minutes at a Time.

 

 

Featured on Friday: Meet TBB Member @andyuskavitch

Behind the book launch scenes we talk about our Team Buzz Builder (TBB) folks with reverence and awe. Without them, our launches would not be as successful, our clients would not receive the same amount of publicity, and we’d be a single promotional megaphone shouting into the social media world during launch weeks.

With them, we see better numbers Amazon and Twitter, have more content to use for promotion, and are able to amplify the message of our clients. TBB helps us spread the word about authors and their books, and in return the #WITeam has the opportunity to interact and engage with some truly outstanding folks.

Meet Andy Uskavitch

A couple of weeks ago, I sent an email to Andy (one of our faithful members of Team Buzz Builder) and requested that he answer a few questions for me. You think you know someone online, and then you ask a few simple questions and discover they happen to be a Disney buff. Who knew?

So Andy, why do you like being a part of TBB?

I first met Becky Robinson, a few years ago, when she worked for Kevin Eikenberry.  It’s been a great opportunity for me to continue working with Becky and the whole TBB team while watching the wonderful growth of the organization – and hopefully helping along the way.  I like to read, but not fiction.  The types of books that TBB promotes are right up my alley.

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

I’m a huge proponent of continuous learning.  Having access to such great books and authors not only benefits myself personally, but it’s also information and experiences that I can use in my corporate training programs and my blogs.  It’s also quite the experience being able to associate with such great writers and business people.

In return for being a part of Team Buzz Builder, the promotion they give my personal social media posts is invaluable.

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

TBB is a great place not only to have access to some great books from some fantastic authors, but also to be a part of a growning social marketing team.  You can learn a lot about social media marketing, and what goes on to promote books and their authors.  Each contact with the TBB team is a learning experience.  You really get a sense of being a part of the team.

Tell us a little bit about yourself… work, family, life, hobbies…

I’m the next Guy Fieri – not – more like wannabe.  I enjoy cooking/grilling and working in the yard landscaping.  My main focus in the workplace has been developing leadership and customer service programs and training.  I’m currently setting up a corporate training department for the quality software company I work for.  I enjoy reading – obviously – and also writing leadership articles and blogs, some of which you can find on Linked2Leadership, as well on my blog (link below).

. . . I’m also quite the Disney buff, mostly in a business sense.

Follow Andy Online:

Blog
Twitter
LinkedIn
Facebook
Google+

Thanks, Andy! The next time you’re grilling in your backyard, feel free to invite the #WITeam! 

Launching a Book After April 12, 2015?

Last week’s launch of Frank Sonnenberg’s great new book, Follow Your Conscience, brings our 2014 launch calendar to a close. This year we launched 17 books, bringing the total number of book launches we’ve launched to 40.

We’ll soon unveil our book list for 2015 — there are some exciting titles from fantastic authors. We’re excited for each launch and for a few others in the works that aren’t official yet.

With launches booked nearly every week through February and March (8 total), we anticipate a busy start to the year. In fact, I promised my team that I won’t commit to any book launches unless they are scheduled to launch after April 12.

Why?

There is one main reason why we can only sign books launching after April 12: to be most effective, we need about 3-4 months to prepare. The more time we have to build a foundation, momentum, and excitement for a launch, the more likely we are to achieve the results our clients desire.

Much of our process depends upon getting books into the hands of influencers who will share books with their networks. Influencers need time to read and review books. Ideally, we get books into people’s mailboxes a month or more before the launch, depending on the time of year. During the holidays or summer months, we like to give people even more time.

We also need time to assist our clients in gathering and creating content for their book launches. One of our goals is to make books ubiquitous during our authors’ launch weeks. We want it to seem like our clients’ books are everywhere. To do this, we often schedule several guest posts, articles, and interviews during one week. Writing those posts and articles? It takes time.

One additional reason we are declining book launches in the first quarter of 2015 is that we much prefer each book to have a unique launch week. We want to focus our attention on one book at a time and we want our blogger network to be able to focus on one book at a time. While we have launched two books in a week (this year: The Culture Engine by Chris Edmonds shared a week with Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work and What Does by Susan Fowler), we all felt a little crazy at the end of that week. Both books are doing extremely well, though. We have two books in one week during the first week of February in 2015, but their audiences are different, and we’re already proactively planning for how to meet the two-book-in-a-week challenge. My strategy includes lots of caffeine.

My preference is that any author begin thinking about marketing their book even before writing it. It’s best to build your network before you need it when you can connect, share, relate, and give, without any expectations or agenda.

If you can’t begin marketing before writing, give yourself as much time as possible. By all means, give your publicity firm the time they need to adequately prepare.

The only exception? You’re a rock star. This year we happily joined a book launch only about a month prior to the launch. The only way it worked is because the author, Alexandra Watkins, is a superb marketer. She had been preparing from the day she signed her book contract with gazillions of creative marketing strategies. As a result, we supported her in the launch of Hello, My Name is Awesome, with much less lead time than we are used to.

Wondering about the other books we launched this year? Here are the rest:

Leading Valiantly in Healthcare by Catherine Robinson-Walker

Love `Em or Lose `Em by Bev Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans

The Age of the Customer by Jim Blasingame

Lead Positive by Dr. Kathy Cramer

The Idea-Driven Organization by Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder

Lessons from China by Beau Sides

Inspired for Greater Things by Linda Freeman

Raise Your Voice by Brian Sooy

Hooked on Customers by Bob Thompson

The Secret by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller

Overcoming Fake Talk by John Stoker

Leaders Open Doors by Bill Treasurer

Tell me something! Which of the books we launched in 2014 did you most enjoy?

Note: I’d love to talk to you about a book launch after April 12, 2015… send me a note!