Successful Blog

How to toot your own horn with humility

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By Diana Gomez

It’s okay to take pride in giving back to your community.

Research has suggested that volunteering and donating money to charitable causes not only increases emotional well-being, but physical health as well. And when hungry people get to eat or when a family in need gets a brand new home, why not spread the good word?

dropping a heart into donation can

In today’s online reality, it’s easy to share your rewarding volunteer experiences with your Facebook friends.

However, the lines of humility here are blurry. Does posting that you’ve donated $1,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation come off as sweet, or just bragging? Does anyone really want to see a photo of the three new rescued greyhounds you are fostering?

Here are four questions you should ask yourself in order to maintain your humility when sharing what you’ve been up to in the community.

1. Why am I sharing?

This is a pretty good way to initially approach any social media post. Simply ask yourself: “Why am I posting this, really?”

Here are some possible answers to this question:

  • “I want to share my experience.”
  • “I want to inspire people to do the same.”
  • “I want people to know I’m a good person.”
  • “I want people to think I’m accomplished.”

Now here’s a surprise: None of these are a bad reason to write up a post.

Whether you do it purposefully or not, social media paints a picture of you as a pared down “brand” of a person. So it’s important to realize your true motives when publicizing this simplified version of you.

If you realize that your true answer is, “I want people to think I’m a good person” and that makes you feel icky-don’t rush to post. Keep that “goodness” to yourself while you think about it a little longer. If you recognize that is your motive, and you feel okay about it-because chances are, if you donate $1,000 to cancer research, you probably are a good person-then it’s okay to share! Just keep reading.

2. What should I post?

Short text, photos, walls of text, and videos are all relevant methods for sharing your charity experiences.

Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, for example. Over $100 million was raised through this viral video campaign-with much debate over the ice bucket dumpers’ humility. Detractors thought it was over-the-top and self-serving; the supporters thought it was just clever and self-deprecating enough to work. I think you can tell here that I’m trying to get you to be introspective again. What did you think of it?

Feel free to be creative with your post. Something that’s engaging for your readers, like a photo, can seem less like bragging than a straight-to-the-point status update.

3. How will people feel?

The language that you use for a post or photo caption is key.

“Just finished my 100th hour volunteering at the soup kitchen. It feels so good to give back!”

“Met a Vietnam veteran who once sang backup vocals for Elvis tonight. #100hours #soupkitchen”

“Feeling so blessed and humbled to have met so many amazing people. Message me if you want to come with next week!” (Location tag: Baltimore Food Pantry)

Again, no wrong answers! Can you spot the differences between these posts?

As the first puts focus on your own feelings, it is honest and relatable. The second is removed from the charitable aspect of the experience while still publicizing that you participate. The third puts the focus on the people you are
helping while gently inviting others to do the same.

Think critically about how your Internet-using friends will feel upon reading your post. Are you attempting to guilt or inspire?

Finally, It is important to remember that the only true way to help disadvantaged people is to empower and dignify them. How would the recipients of your good deeds feel if they saw your post?

4. Where should I post?

After you give to a cause online, there is usually a button to “Share” a boiler-plate post on your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. This is an easy way to maintain humility, as it’s coming from a third party. You can’t help it if someone else says something nice about you!

Otherwise, you can craft your own post. Besides social media, you could blast out a mass e-mail, a private message to just a few people, or as a blog post on your website.

5. When should I share?

The most basic rule of humble charity work is to keep the publicity to a minimum. Although you may be incredibly proud of each fundraising goal you reach, it’s good to keep these tips in mind before posting about it every single day.

Just because you do something altruistic doesn’t mean you have to keep it to yourself. Posting with care can inspire others to give back as well-and that’s the “share” that keeps on sharing.

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of content marketing strategies for USA and Canada. Lyoness is an international shopping community and loyalty rewards program, where businesses and consumers benefit with free membership and money back with every purchase.

How to do 2015

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Happy New Year!

crystal clear beach day

This is not a roundup, best-of, lessons-learned post.

This is not about setting goals, making resolutions, or dieting.

This is just a simple reminder that there’s nothing magic about January 1.

So yes, come out of the gates today full of hope and energy, full of plans and fresh ideas.

And on March 13 or so, or when that starts to flag, remind yourself that any old day can be January 1. Get back up on the horse, go back and re-read your goals, dream board, marketing plan, business strategy, all the things you wrote on January 1.

Heck, it could even be next Wednesday.

The most successful people are the ones who can create their own January 1 whenever they need it.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

How to use online reviews to boost your business

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By Diana Gomez

For small businesses, the world of online reviews can be a scary place – and that’s understandable.

I have friends who cringe as they open their company’s Yelp page, afraid of any negativity they’ll have to face regarding their beloved business. However, what you’ll often find is more compliments than you expected, plus you’ll discover ways to make the reviews help and grow your business.

So you see, reviews can be good for you, no matter how bad they are.

feedback notebook

Here’s what you can take from your online reviews: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Reviews can:

Provide Credibility

People trust reviews. In fact, an online, unbiased review is more trustworthy than a personal recommendation. And believe it or not, readers are often more trusting of a place with both negative and positive reviews rather than one-sided views.

Create Awareness

Building customer awareness is a great advantage of online reviews. At no cost, sites like Yelp and Google Places let customers brag about you to the world. It’s also a platform for current customers to engage with one another with suggestions that could lead to more product purchases.

Give Free Feedback

Occasionally, you’ll have to face the fact that no one, even your business, is perfect. It may be your favorite employee who has caused a customer to take to Yelp and unleash a tirade about their bad experience. But look at it this way: rather than having secret shoppers rate their experience to you, you’ve got regular people doing this – for free. Say two customers in a day complained about a restaurant hostess and her bad attitude. You can make that right. Same goes for any complaint.

Benefit Buying Choices

Knowing what is really working for your business can help navigate you in the market. A negative comment can help tell you what people don’t love as much, just as a positive review can tell you what people want more of.

Improve SEO

If content is king in today’s online world, then reviews should be welcomed by businesses. Google does take reviews into account when ranking, so whether they’re positive or negative, they’re doing you good in the search engines’ eyes. Merely showing that people are actively engaging in your business is proof enough that you’re relevant, and this can only help your ranking.

What should you do if the reviews are negative?

Take care of business – and fast.

Immediately address it online. Ignoring customers’ comments makes it look like you just don’t care. And letting the situation sit and simmer doesn’t help matters either. Address it as quickly as possible for the best possible outcome, and show that you and your company are considerate and well-mannered. Showing that you’re classy will raise people’s opinion of you, which can only be good for the business in the end.

Apologize.

Apologize for their bad experience, and assure them that you’re addressing it appropriately. If it’s super negative with a ton of details, try sending a private message as well. This adds an extra personal touch. Request that they try your product or services again, and once they do, ask if they’ll remove or update the review to reflect their latest, and hopefully positive, experience. If the situation can’t be resolved, be sure to publicly comment on all the steps you followed to address the issue and ensure it won’t happen again.

Fix it.

Don’t just say you’ll remedy it – do it! It’s one thing to get a couple of bad comments on one employee in one day (bad day?), but if a mountain of negativity piles up regarding one person or one particular product, you’ve got some work to do. A large amount of customers can’t be wrong. In this situation, you can actually thank the complainer for helping you maintain a business that satisfies.

Solicit good reviews.

Though a negative review can be beneficial, it can do much harm if it’s your only review. That’s why you have to do your part in gathering good ones by asking your best customers to review you. And yes, that one negative comment will then look far more credible than a business with nothing but rave reviews.

What if the reviews are positive?

Say thanks.

Of course positive reviews can help you out tremendously. Thank the person who’s taken the time to compliment you. Then use their comments to your advantage. Reviews can confirm what you’re doing right and help you look at say, menu items that no one seems to mention at all.

What negative review, in-house or online, helped your business recently? Please share your experiences in the comments!

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of content marketing strategies for USA and Canada. Lyoness is an international shopping community and loyalty rewards program, where businesses and consumers benefit with free membership and money back with every purchase.

Be still

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My favorite Christmas carol is Still, Still, Still, which originally comes from an Austrian folk song.

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas today or not, I wish you the peace, love, and quiet joy of the season.

We tend to get focused on rushing around all the time, trying to get our to-do lists done, learning the latest social tactics, and sweating about pushing content. I hope you get some time this week to step back, breathe, and enjoy some stillness.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Evaluate your visual branding with this quick project

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Grab a cup of egg nog, some masking tape, and a Sharpie. It’s about to get old-school in here.

It’s the end of the year, and you’re hopefully knee-deep in planning your budget and strategy for 2015. You’re evaluating how your 2014 plans went (fistbump).

Here’s one quick branding project that you can do in about 30 minutes, and will help you spot any weaknesses in your branding picture.

Step One – Make a List of Online Outposts

Compile a list of every place your business has a presence online. Include social networks (FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), review sites, your own web site.

Step Two – Fire up the Printer

Print at least the first page (anything above the fold) from each place on the list. If you send out corporate emails, print one of those too. If you placed any ads online, print them.

Step Three – Deck the Halls

Tape all of the items you printed on one wall. Tape up any pre-printed items too, if you have them. Include business cards, corporate brochure, direct mail pieces, a picture of your trade show booth, go nuts.

Step Four – Stand Back and Soak it In

As you step back from the wall, and sip some egg nog, what do you see? Is it a jumbled mess? What are the messages you’re sending? Are they the ones you want to send?

Step Five – Sharpie It Up

Use the Sharpie to circle and make notes where you see weaknesses. Do you need to add a cover image on LinkedIn (what, you haven’t done that yet?), do you have an outdated profile blurb on SlideShare, is your old logo showing up on that product’s Twitter page?

Step Six – Take Action

You can use the last week of the year to update and tweak these branding issues, consider hiring a branding expert to sort it out, or add action items to your 2015 plan.

You’ll be starting the next year with a crystal clear picture of your visual brand, and a plan to move forward!

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — makers of the Hoop.la community platform. Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Blog (a verb)

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By Lisa D. Jenkins

“Others may be talking about the same thing, but they aren’t talking about it with your voice.”

How many times have you heard this when people are encouraging you to blog?

A lot? If you’re like me, it’s a lot.

Here’s how it happens in my head:

  • I have a thought about something timely.
  • My brain takes a walk along that thought path and reaches a conclusion.
  • I consider blogging about it and then I think there’s no need to write what everyone else has already published.

Why clutter up the internet, right?

fly with a tiny microphone

Now, the Husband doesn’t do work that’s remotely related to mine. In fact, his sole concession to getting anywhere near what I do for a living was to open a Facebook account six months ago – and we’ve been together for almost 8 years.

So you can imagine my surprise when he was sitting next to me last week and started asking informed questions about big data, segmenting, conversions and other magical things that make my nerd heart sing.

He was reading a blog – a blog I love. He continued to read through that blog for a number of days. Clicking ever deeper into the content and looking at me every so often like I was a supernatural being because these were things I not only knew but used. He asked questions, I answered and that went on for a while, so I pointed him toward three more blogs that feature similar content. These blogs are also on my not-to-be-missed roll.

Aaaaand here’s how the lesson of the opening statement from this post was driven almost painfully home for me.

He read a couple of posts from each of the new blogs and dove right back into the first one. Why? Because the voice, style and format of the first blog made the content easier for him to consume and relate to.

Hmmmm.

It’s almost like all those people who’ve come before me – those people I look to for guidance and advice – know a little something about this world of online business. Weird.

Now, I’m open about not blogging for myself. But I don’t for a second advocate that strategy for you – partly because I don’t know you and your business. And partly because it’s almost a given that the people who will love what you do need to hear what you do, and why you do it, from you. In your voice.

So lay it out there. Write what you’re thinking. Write about what you do. Write about the tools you use. Write about how you solve people’s problems. Let people read you. Blog.

Author’s Bio: Lisa D. Jenkins is a Public Relations professional specializing in Social and Digital Communications for businesses. She has over a decade of experience and work most often with destination organizations or businesses in the travel and tourism industry in the Pacific Northwest. Connect with her on Google+
Photo Credit: Adam N. Ward via Compfight cc