Why a Social Platform is Vital to Your Business. In the day and age of social media there is no longer an excuse for  companies not be able to provide great customer service.  As a business owner, whether large of small you are under the scrutiny of the public eye. Yet it amazing how many companies will ignore their social customers. There are some companies that use the free or paid social media tools for good. They pay attention to what their customers are saying about not only them but also their competitors. For example I was having an issue with my cellphone and its data service. Out of frustration, I called them out on my Twitter account. Within moments of mentioning @T-Mobile in my comments I was tweeted back by their @T-MobileHelp account. This is the way a company is using the tools for good. By taking time to care and monitor their mentions they avoided me berating them further. One would think that all companies would handle their social platform in a similar manner. Not always the case. There is another instance recently where I took another company to task. Without giving them undo mention here, let’s just say I am still waiting for an answer. Not only can social platforms be useful marketing tools as well as quick customer service. These profiles also provide an online persona for the company. Many companies fall short when they are not being socially active. Nothing is more unsettling than when you find a site for […]

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10 Blogger Tips To Get Noticed. As a blogger we all have our own ways of doing the same things. Ultimately our goal is to have our voices heard. Some will do it with headlines, others with extreme SEO while others base it on their content alone. No matter what you write if it is engaging and interesting people will read it, otherwise … well. There are a few basic guidelines that if you follow them at least to some extent you might get noticed. Choose your topic – it really does not matter what the topic, as long as you choose one. Many bloggers take a shotgun approach and try to cover everything and in turn cover nothing. Whatever the topic stick with it, which is why you are being read in the first place. Nothing worse than a headline about leadership that spills into a story about your dog and peanut butter cookies. There are at least three posts in that one sentence if not more. Short and sweet – very blogger that has anything to say will start with nothing and in minutes have a book. Keep your blog posts short. The experts say anywhere from 500 to 1000 words with the happy medium around 700. Anymore and well you probably won’t get read. Break it up if you have to, make it bite size nuggets of great content. Edit your work – one of the biggest detractors is someone who cannot spell. Grammar and punctuation is not as important, but at least […]

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Two Lessons in Leadership that any leader should learn. One of the first lessons we learn in becoming a leader is the skill of eye contact. Eye contact is something that everyone should learn but few practice. There is power in the eyes of the beholder. The one that can maintain eye contact usually wins. I am not suggesting that we have staring contests with everyone we meet. That would just be creepy and make others uncomfortable. However when you introduce yourself to someone look them in the eye. Someone that cannot provide eye contact automatically I think they have something to hide. If you don’t look me in the eye you will likely not earn my business or trust. Trust is what earns business and eye contact garners trust. I find it awkward when you are talking to someone and they look everywhere else but at you. That can make someone feel insecure like they have something in their teeth or worse. It is also distracting and causes the appearance of disinterest. There is a level of eye-contact that is sufficient as well. It is a bit unnerving when someone locks eyes for minutes at a time, even after you looked away. I had a conversation with a co-worker earlier this week that I swear they had eye lock for the entire conversation. So as with anything else, moderation is a key element. This also applies to complete strangers that pass each other by. I have noticed that rather than eye contact the majority […]

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