Successful Blog

Four Human Reasons People Participate and Keep Coming Back

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It’s about Me!

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When new clients start talking social media, it’s not long before they get to “engagement.” They want to know what moves crowds and individuals to genuine participation. What attracts us? What connects us? What keep us coming back and bringing our friends with us?

What makes one space more fun to participate in than another that looks like the same thing?

Why we participate might vary with each participant, but participants all have things in common — simple human reasons that give experiences meaning.

  • Fame — some folks come for recognition. When we participate, our words get seen and read. Sometimes they’re shared. Every blog post, tweet, status update, and comment aggregates to form our reputation. And now that we friend and follow others, we have even more direct channels to share our words of wisdom and attract a following.

    Will your online experience attract the group you want — the authorities, the elite, or the “Internet famous?”

  • Fortune — some folks come for contests and giveaways, but leave when the prizes quit coming. Some folks are interested in information or training that will raise their income. It’s a tricky business to combine participation and money without it beginning to feel like I’m working for it.

    Will your online experience offer enough to keep folks coming back?

  • Friendship — connections on the social web are clicked on and off in seconds. So the key is conversation between people with common ideas or values. Conversations between like-minded friends grow exponentially faster than their real-world counterparts. Without barriers of time and space, meeting is simpler and more convenient. I leave a message you respond later.

    Will your online experience make it easy for folks to talk to people like themselves about things that they care about?

  • Fun — the distraction of new people and new ideas. The level playing field in which introverts and extroverts both have to type makes it fun. Spice it up with some game that brings out personality … keep it simple and easy. It’s endless conversation in a coffeehouse that’s always open.

    Will your online experience be fun for folks who want to be with other people?

When we’re looking at an online experience, we have to consider what the human payoff is. What is the most basic reason that people will come and come back? That reason will underscore and validate that the environment we’re building is right for the ones we want to come to share it. Incorporate the values of the folks you want to be there, and people will participate and keep coming back.

Seems simple doesn’t iit? Humans will be human.

Which reason do you think attracts most folks to participate on Twitter?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Why Businesses Still Aren’t Engaging Online With Their Customers

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A Guest Post by Frank Angelone

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Are you a business? Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, you should be engaging with your customers. As many already know, the best way to engage with your customers is through social media. There are so many sites available at your disposal to be an active participant, yet many businesses still aren’t using social media to its full potential.

Why is this? Well, I believe it can be answered in 5 bullet points…

  1. Laziness. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t engage in social media, your sales for your business aren’t going to be as high as Toyota who are actively engaging with their customers. Don’t sit around and wait for social media to come to you. You have to go after your customer base and see what they want. If you don’t, you are leaving money on the table for your competition.
  2. Time Constraints. So many businesses say they are too busy to create accounts on Twitter or Facebook. That’s a poor excuse and a simple solution is hire someone to engage with your customers.
  3. Unfamiliar with social media. This is probably the worst reason for not engaging with your customers online. If you know how to talk to your customers in person, then online interaction isn’t any different. You reach an even larger customer base online. If a business says, “We are unfamiliar with using social media.” My response is, “how come Toyota can do it?” Everyone starts at the bottom and learns more as they participate.
  4. Fear of the unknown. To many business engaging with their customers online is a new form of business that older business owners simply won’t understand its benefit. An easy fix, just do it! The more a business puts off engaging with their customers, the quicker someone will take those customers from them.
  5. Pride. There are many business owners and companies out there that feel the way that they do things is the only way it can be done. The minute you let pride get in the way, the sooner you will be bankrupt. You need to accept that the business world is always changing and if you are not willing to adapt because of pride, then get out the playing field. There are plenty of other businesses that will put int the time to make their companies better.

My takeaways for companies refusing to engage with their customers online are…

  • Business in general is bigger than YOUR company. You need to adapt to changing times to be a big player.
  • Engaging in an online capacity is the same as in person. The two shouldn’t be mistaken as different and the same amount of effort should be put into both.
  • For your company to survive, you NEED customers. Treat your customers as your number one concern and you will see your profits increase. Always build trust and relationships with those people.

Find the social site where your customers hang out. Set a goal. Invest a little time. Learn a tool. Get familiar with what’s going on… Chances are you’ll find yourself proudly connecting to the people who love what you more and more.

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Frank Angelone is the founder of Social Tech Zone. He helps individuals and businesses with news and tips to better themselves in social media and technology. Frank is also the author of the Computer Speed Blueprint where he helps PC users increase the speed of their slow computer. You’ll find him on Twitter as @FrankAngelone.

Thanks, Frank! Great information on how we do more than survive. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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3 Simple Steps to Add Irresistible Influence to Your Brand

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Magnetic from the Very First Minute!

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What makes a person or a company unforgettable from the second you interact?

Why do some folks motivate and energize us? What is it about some folks that attracts people so powerfully?

What makes a magnetic personality? Is it possible for a company or a brand to have those qualities? Can we carry them online and off?

3 Simple Steps to Add Irresistible Influence to Your Brand

The brands and the businesses we love don’t just deliver on a promise. They make us feel good about working with them and feel good about being part of what they’re doing. If you have a favorite brand or company you might find that they have the same qualities that we find attractive in individuals we first meet.

Try these three steps to develop an irresistible influence brand image online and off.

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  • Live positivity with a bias toward service … When someone lights up our minds with the joy of living, it’s hard not to notice. Companies are learning to do the same thing. It’s fascinating how positivity and “can do” pulls us to it. We’d all rather be around someone who stands in the sun than someone drenched without an umbrella. We’d rather use products and work with brands who inspire us. Somehow we know they’ll be around when hard times come too.
  • Share your intelligent thinking without an agenda … It might be fun to watch someone who’s silly, but it’s hard to invest in their unpredictability. People and companies who visibly sort problems into great actions are valuable. We know that they can help us make clear decisions, and they pass on useful information when we might need it. Folks who help us clarify our thoughts are priceless.
  • Make us part of your meaningful mission … People and companies with a passion guiding them are attractive. We can see their values and how those values align with our own. Companies and individuals will solid values stand on solid ground and when we stand with them, we know we do too.

Whether we’re a corporation, a small business, or an individual, our brand comes through in our positive bias, our intelligent problem solving and meaningful mission. People want to participate with folks who are on a great path that is bright, generous, and passionate. Even if it’s only for a short transaction, it beats out the folks who are just going through the motions. On Twitter, on our blogs, in person, it’s those characteristics that make us uniquely different.

How do you add irresistible to your brand image?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Do YOUR Customers Really Want Innovation?

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Is It Their Thinking or Ours?

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If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. — Henry Ford

A while back I sat in a presentation in which an evangelist from a huge corporation said …

Customers want innovation.

It was one of his PowerPoint slides too.

“Ah, no,” I thought. “Here I sit in a room filled with people who came to learn from him. Some of them, because of the man’s title, were bound to repeat that silly statement.”

Had I heard that sentence in my younger days, when I had less patience, I would have felt compelled to … um … handle it gently. His choice of words skews solid thinking.

Customers?
Every customer is a person.

The sentence changes when it becomes
People want innovation.

Do we? Do people want innovation. I suppose some folks put down hard earned cash for “innovation.” Personally, I’m not fully sure what innovation is until someone conceives it and shows me how it works. I certainly don’t go looking for it.

When I spend my money on what I need, want, or desire, innovation doesn’t make the list. Solving a real or perceived problem does.

Solutions make my life, easier, more fun, more elegant.
Solutions make me feel better about myself.
Innovation isn’t about me.
It’s about the person or people who came up with the idea.

What’s your thinking? Do your customers want innovation?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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IKEA Shows a 30-Sec Spot Can Be About Us

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This beautiful 30-second ad commissioned by IKEA, produced by the Hamburg agency Grabarz & Partner shows beauty doesn’t have to be expensive. At a time when many brands are focusing on volume and discounts, IKEA has deliberately used a calm 30-second advert to showcase the power of the brand.

A great message for these times — a tribute to the humble tea light..

Click the video to play.

Tealights are a small item staple to IKEA’s offer in line with their philosophy that elegance and beauty don’t have to be expensive, boring, or pretentious.

‘You don’t need a great deal of money to make your world more beautiful, just a bit of IKEA – that’s the IKEA philosophy in a nutshell,’ explains Claudia Willvonseder, IKEA’s Marketing Manager. ‘The tea light is one of several IKEA icons, and is a small-scale reminder of everything that IKEA does in a larger context,’ she adds.

For more discussion about this ad read Coloribus

I find this ad worth watching again and obviously worth passing on.

What is a small scale reminder of everything that is your brand?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Want More Ideal Clients? Five Simple Steps

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“Give Me Ambiguity or Give Me Something Else!!”

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A potential comes to you with a problem. The person you meet is your perfect “work soulmate,” but for some reason you don’t get the job. Why is that?

Could it be that you’re ambiguous — that you’re just not clear?

When it comes to hiring people, potential clients want to know exactly who we are and what we can deliver. They also want to whether their work will be safe in our hands.

That’s why it’s critical when people ask, “What do you do?” that we have a strong answer that invites them in to ask you more.

I say, “I use traditional and new media strategies to show micro and macro businesses easier, faster, and more meaningful ways to reach, connect with, and create thriving communities of brand-loyal fans — online and off. ”

Chris Brogan says, “I use social media and technology to show businesses, organizations, and individuals how to build authentic conversations between coworkers, customers, and even competitors.”

Do we all do more than that? Of course we do, but we’re clear, concise, and unambiguous about where our focus is. Potential clients know our work will always be founded upon what that statement says.

Want More Ideal Clients? Five Simple Steps

Ideal clients are partners that we select. The straightest line to them is to understand who will respect our thinking and value our work. To make long-lasting relationships like that takes an upfront investment of five simple steps.

  1. Write a single statement to describe your best work. What is the highest level result you deliver consistently? What quests and problems bring out your best thinking? What do people often ask you to help them with? Start with those. Read your statement and tweak it daily until it sounds exactly like what you want your business to be.
  2. Define your irresistible offer. Research it’s value to your clients. Find out what the work is worth in hard currency. Articulate in words how what you do takes a serious problem off the desk of your client group. Explain how what you do will make their life easier, make their work more efficient, and make them a hero because they let you do that
  3. Define the best client fit for your work. Develop a prototype of the ideal customer-partner. Know what every client value set must include. Know what every client match must be without. Be sure the definition includes “communicates openly and can afford to pay you.”
  4. Do your homework. Don’t be tempted to convert everyone you meet. . We can’t work with everyone. Not everyone is a match. Rather than trying to convince a potential client to think as you do, invest that time in identifying clients who want to learn how you do it.
  5. Keep asking potential ideal clients what they need most. Talk to the folks you’ve identified as the best fit about their goals. When you hear a way you might help, tell them what you do.

So often the issue of business development is not one of what we can deliver, but how well we talk about it. When we have seriously thought through what we do best and where we best fit, the result is an irresistible offer that is clear, concise, and unambiguous. It’s easy to say and easy for fans and friends to pass on for us.

It’s much more fun to be able to say who we are and what we clearly offer to someone who is a perfect match for our work.

How will you move toward finding your ideal client today?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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