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Here is a good place for a call to action.

Helping our “invisible” community

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This blog and community is about the “doers.”

Yes, we share a lot of food for thought as you build your business, but the goal is to stimulate action.

Today’s post highlights a man of action who is also a member of our community– Mark Horvath, founder of Invisible People, a nonprofit that uses social media to help change the story of homelessness.

In 2010 a film production company followed Mark around to produce a documentary on his work and homelessness.

@Home movie Mark Horvath
The good news, well great news actually, is that the movie, called “@home,” will be airing on PBS in 35 States starting 3/25. The not-so-great news is that there is zero promotion or campaign to accompany the film.

When Mark agreed to participate in the film it was with the hope that there would be an awareness campaign to accompany the movie. As he put it, “the last thing I wanted was a film that ended the conversion after the movie was over kind of like ‘homelessness sucks, but lets go get ice cream!'”

For whatever reason, neither a campaign or promotion of any significance has happened.

The current plan is to try to remedy the lack of promotion with some grass roots effort, and Mark has been inspired by a successful project from 2009 (called Twestival). For that project, Amanda Rose started a grassroots movement that was truly amazing. Her community crowdsourced tweetups (do those even exist anymore?) in 202 cities around the world and raised huge money for charity:water.

Some of the events were pretty significant, while some were just a few people gathering at a bar or restaurant. It showed how social media can be used to organically organize people to gather for a purpose and have impact.

This is where Mark needs our help.

At the end of this post we are listing cities, stations and times. If you live in one of those communities and are a make-things-happen type person, it would be awesome if you (or a team of you) would start promoting the PBS airing and make some kind of an event happen.

If you want to make it a fundraiser, PLEASE PICK A LOCAL HOMELESS SERVICE to benefit. It’s important to fight homelessness at a local level. Plus, supporting a local homeless service would just be a better fit for any local event.

The point of this movie is just that – create a conversation on people experiencing homelessness.

Mark has made available a couple of resources that can support your efforts to spread the word. One is a study guide for the film, created by Seattle University.

@home-discussion-guide

He also has a website called InvisiblePeople.tv where he highlights the stories of specific homeless people in our communities.

Anything you can do to help spread the word about this important film, and Mark’s vital work, would be much appreciated.

These are the scheduled showings of the film on PBS stations around the United States:

EASTERN STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 12:00 AM, 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM
Saturday, March 28 at 1:00 PM ET
WEDU – Tampa, FL NHPTV – Durham, NH
WPBT – North Miami, FL WNET – New York, NY
WUCF – Orlando, FL WNED – Buffalo, NY
WXEL – West Palm Beach, FL WMHT – Troy, NY
WJCT – Jacksonville, FL WXXI – Rochester, NY
WSRE – Pensacola, FL WCNY – Syracuse, NY
WGCU – Fort Myers, FL WCFE – Plattsburgh, NY
WUFT – Gainesville, FL WSKG – Vestal, NY
GEOR – Atlanta, GA WPBS – Watertown, NY
ALAB – Birmingham, AL WVIZ – Cleveland, OH
WGBH – Boston, MA WOUB – Athens, OH
WGBY – Springfield, MA WCTE – Cookeville, TN
MAIN – Bangor, ME WKNO – Cordova, TN
WTVS – Wixom, MI WETP – Knoxville, TN
WKAR – East Lansing, MI WLJT – Martin, TN
WHYY – Philadelphia, PA WHRO – Norfolk, VA
WQED – Pittsburgh, PA WBRA – Roanoke, VA
WPSU – University Park, PA VERM – Colchester, VT
WQLN – Erie, PA

CENTRAL STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 7:00 AM and 1:00 PM
Saturday, March 28 at 12:00 PM
ARKA – Conway, AR KENT – Lexington, KY
IOWA – Johnston, IA WYES – New Orleans, LA
WTTW – Chicago, IL KWCM – Appleton, MN
WSIU – Carbondale, IL KETC – St. Louis, MO
WILL – Urbana, IL NDAK – Fargo, ND
WMEC – Chatham, IL NEBR – Lincoln, NE
WTVP – Peoria, IL KERA – Dallas, TX
WTIU – Bloomington, IN KLRN – San Antonio, TX
WVUT – Vincennes, IN WMVS – Milwaukee, WI

MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 5:00 PM ant 10:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 AM and 12:00 PM
Saturday, March 28 at 11:00 AM
IDAH – Boise, ID SDAK – Vermillion, SD
MONT – Bozeman, MT KUED – Salt Lake City, UT

PACIFIC STANDARD TIME
Wednesday, March 25 at 4:00 PM and 9:00 PM
Thursday, March 26 at 5:00 AM and 11:00 AM
Saturday, March 28 at 10:00 AM
KUAC – Fairbanks, AK KIXE – Redding, CA
KAET – Phoenix, AZ KEET – Eureka, CA
KUAT – Tucson, AZ KNME – Albuquerque, NM
KOCE – Santa Ana, CA KSYS – Medford, OR
KQED – San Francisco, CA KSPS – Spokane, WA
KVIE – Sacramento, CA

If you have questions, or would like to help, you can contact Mark Horvath directly: info [at] invisiblepeople [dot] tv.

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

Thank you, together we are successful

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In the United States, today is a day for stopping the usual work, gathering with loved ones, and expressing our thanks.

Wherever you are, whatever your plans today, know that I’m including you in my list of “things I’m grateful for this year.”

This blog is a labor of love that sprung from Liz Strauss’ generous and creative intellect, and I’m so thankful to be part of the Successful Blog team.

You, our faithful readers, commenters, and supporters, are a diverse and energetic group of entrepreneurs, business owners, and aspiring business owners, and we love you.

Here’s wishing you and yours a warm and abundant Thanksgiving.

Effective social media sales gets personal

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By Diana Gomez

Figuring out how to use social media effectively for your business is a lot like trying to hit a moving target…about the size of a pea, three hundred yards away, from the bow of a skiff in fifteen-foot-high seas. Did I mention that you’re also trying to use an unwieldy, twenty-pound harpoon? (You get the picture.)

speedboat going fast

Getting the attention of your target market, let alone followers and regular activity on your social media sites, is one of the biggest challenges in today’s marketplace. However, it’s not impossible. As with our seafaring harpoon-ist, the best way to hit that target is with practice, patience and a little bit of luck. And with social media marketing, your odds also go up in proportion to your creativity: the more you use, the better chance you have of hitting home.

Remember: It’s Social Media, not Sales Media

Before launching any type of social media sales campaign, be sure that you have the following in place: a strong following and a good relationship with your followers and friends.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of businesses come into the social media world expecting people to start following them simply because they’re posting regularly, or that they can launch a campaign the same day they open their social media page and get instant results.

The fact is that social media is just that: social. If you were to walk into a room and hand out business cards, talking only about your business, people would get tired of you pretty quickly. But if you were to engage others, answer their questions, talk a little about yourself and comment on their personal accomplishments, you’d not only be welcome in that social circle, you might also be invited to other, bigger parties.

Social Campaigning

Once you’ve built up that all-too-important following, it’s time to break out the campaign strategies. From Instagram picture challenges to pop quiz prize questions on Facebook, there are potentially thousands of ways you can start actively engaging your customer base. And don’t let anyone try to pigeonhole your business by saying a particular social media type isn’t “right” for your company. An accounting firm can have just as much fun with a photo challenge as a nail salon. In fact, it might shine an even brighter spotlight on your business when you take a more unconventional campaign route.

Following are several social media campaign ideas, but keep in mind that creativity is the key to standing out in an overcrowded social media market.

Ideally, these suggestions should only be a basis for creating your own innovative spin-off.

  • Say it like you meme it: Random pictures transformed into funny, witty memes is a great way to build connections through shares and likes. And for small businesses, using local references or images can help engage area residents.
  • Caption captivation: Don’t have the time to make a meme? Get your friends and followers to do it for you by posting a picture and inviting them to caption it for you. The cuter, funnier or more surprising you can make the image, the better.
  • Local resource: If your small business is located in or near an active community/business hub, take the opportunity to become a go-to resource for local events. No matter your business, if you post regularly about upcoming events in your neighborhood, people will begin to seek you out as a reliable resource. And as an added bonus, your business would likely become known as a strong supporter of the local community.
  • What we’re up to: Show off some of your company’s personality by sharing family album-type images. Pictures of some regulars who dropped by, renovations, even a picture of you fixing a leaky sink in the break room will make your business feel more relatable and consequently, more engaging.
  • Pop quiz: Everyone knows at least a few random facts for no apparent reason, so why not give them a chance to show off their odd knowledge by posting a pop quiz question? From movie trivia to microbiology, you can pick a question that pertains to your industry or go with something totally random. Either way, it’s a great way to build on your following.
  • Image open invite: This is another one that can work for virtually any business. Invite your followers to post images following a theme – any theme. It doesn’t necessarily have to relate to your business, but there are plenty of ways to tie photos in with your line of work. An accounting firm, for example, could welcome pictures of frugal DIY projects (ex: turning old VHS cases into mod picture frames), or a lawn care service could post images of bizarre yard art and invite others to share their own.

Whatever your approach, just remember to keep it creative and relatable. People spend time on social media sites to escape from the business world and to engage with friends and family. By gearing your campaigns more toward the light-hearted and entertaining, you’ll eventually be able to expand your social outreach exponentially.

Author’s Bio: Diana Gomez is the Marketing Coordinator at Lyoness America, where she is instrumental in the implementation of marketing and social media 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.

Photo Credit: Keith Marshall via Compfight cc

Words matter

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Boilerplate kills kittens.

Early in my career, I worked as a technical writer for a large government contractor. The GPO Manual was our ultimate arbiter of word choice, I learned to spell “judgment” without a second “e,” and we relied heavily on giant chunks of pre-written text.

I was a “writer,” but one who was having her soul slowly crushed under the weight of government regulations.

orwell movie

Those formative experiences gave me an intense interest in how words are applied. How just the right word can make or break a relationship, a transaction, a pitch.

Leaders use powerful words. Entrepreneurs must have an arsenal of persuasive words in their stockpiles. Business builders need to project clarity (so let’s ditch the jargon).

When you answer the same questions over and over again, it can be tempting to fall back on key phrases. Same thing when you assume the “corporate” mantle in an email or a phone call.

“We deeply regret the inconvenience.”

See that? A kitten just keeled over.

Would the customer feel better if you simply said, “I’m so sorry”? Yes.

My challenge to you today is to catch yourself using these worn out words. Give a fresh eye to the way you talk to your customers, partners, and colleagues.

On your website, do you ask your customers to “submit a ticket” when they have a problem? Could you change that to “ask for help”?

Do you constantly use the Royal “we” when you’re talking to customers? Stop doing that. You’re not the Queen of England.

Sprinkle some surprise into your conversation, whether it’s online or in person. Humans love surprises.

Communication shouldn’t be complicated. It should just be genuine and simple, with the humility and understanding that we’re all multi-dimensional humans, everyone of which has spent time in both the dark and delightful parts of life. -Bryan Kramer, author of “Human to Human“

We can’t let ourselves be subsumed by our robot overlords yet. Their faux-human handwriting is getting better and better, but they’re not quite there yet.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: David Blackwell. via Compfight cc

It’s a Brand New, Brand YOU, Visual World

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By Paul Biedermann, re:DESIGN

It’s a visual world and images touch us in a direct, visceral way unlike text can alone. They make us happy, they make us laugh, they make us inspired — they can also make us deeply sad — all in just a fleeting glance.

one red strawberry

Recent neurological studies prove through brain imaging how we respond to visuals unlike any other media: we pay attention to them, we believe them, and we remember them. Powerful stuff!

Now, take a look at today’s media landscape and the busy, distracted, hyperactive world we find ourselves in.

What are the three things you — as a company, businessperson, or job seeker — need to do most? Get noticed, communicate your value and make a positive impression that is remembered, right?

Visuals to the rescue. And they show up great on our smartphones too, where so many of us now spend our time online.

Use the power of the visual

A strong visual presence that clearly demonstrates who you are and what you want puts you head and shoulders above the rest — you know, all those websites and social media profiles you click through, not to mention the mountains of faceless resumés that recruiters know so well. But take note of the word “strong” — a weak visual image won’t cut it. There is lots of amateurish visual noise vying for attention too, so the key is rising above that. Joining the tide of mediocrity won’t cut it.

Now is the time to use the power of the visual — and not just to be seen, but understood and remembered too. There’s no doubt that a smart visual strategy will help give you the competitive advantage you seek.

A well-designed visual presentation brings clarity to who you are and what you do. This is so important in a time when you are fortunate if someone takes even a few seconds to decide yay or nay, assuming you have attracted their attention in the first place.

Sharpen your visual strategy

Once you have defined the core essence of your business and message, you should then tailor your communications and online presence in a simple, visually unique way for maximum impact. No matter how qualified you might be otherwise, creating the right visual appeal will not only help you land new business or that new job, but land the right kind of business and the right job for which you are best suited and that brings you the most personal satisfaction.

Companies and marketers have long known that brands with the sharpest sales pitches and the most dynamic visual presentations differentiate themselves from the competition and sell the most product (all else being equal, of course). Similarly, solopreneurs and job seekers who brand and market themselves — defining their own unique “story” and then pairing that with a smart visual strategy — win the day.
 
In today’s competitive environment, it’s all about brand “you.” Sounds a little strange, I know. But much like your favorite brands that you reach for every day, now is the time to package yourself so you leap right off those shelves of relative sameness — you now have your own shoppers to entice!

Applying traditional branding principles to ourselves is a relatively new concept, but it does not mean being disingenuous in any way — far from it. It is about taking all you are and polishing that so you present the best version of yourself, and making sure the focus is where it belongs. Merging your core message with the right visual strategy does nothing to change the essence of who you are, it simply improves the odds that people will get to know the real you and take the action you seek.

As the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression — so creating the right visual impression speaks volumes. Just as we know quality when we see it, people recognize that you are a quality business or person if that is the impression you give them and you have the goods to back it up. Much like putting on your best suit for an interview, smart communications and a good looking visual image work the same way, especially when you can’t be there yourself.

Be consistent

One final, critical ingredient — be consistent. In order to make an impression that is noticed and remembered, that same message needs to be continually driven home, clearly and succinctly. This means tying both your online and offline communications together so you present one unified image, no matter where they may be seen. Mismatched communications that don’t hang together create a confused, disorganized, unprofessional message. Mixed signals fracture your image rather than enhancing and reinforcing it.

A laser-sharp, visually-powerful brand is the single most important step you can take to reach, excite and inspire people to take action — and hire brand “you.”

Author’s Bio: Paul Biedermann is the Creative Director/Owner of re:DESIGN, a small design agency specializing in Strategic Design, Brand Identity, and Visual Content Marketing — intersecting smart design with business strategies that reach, engage, and inspire people to action. Blending traditional and leading-edge media tactics. Paul consistently delivers integrated, award-winning results for his clients. Connect with him on Google+ or Twitter.

Photo credit: MorgueFile