Successful Blog

Five Critical Pitfalls that Can Disable Any Social Media Team

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A Team Needs Power to Work

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As you consider and hire the people for your social media team, think through the responsibilities you’ll be handing over. Because if you don’t hand over responsibility, accountability and the corresponding power, you’ll be be setting the team up for failure.

Now, if that’s your purpose – to ensure failure. You can do that by first setting aside any leadership skills you’ve learned and tapping into your own insecurity. Get closer to your fear of change and cling tight to what used to work. Repeat after me

If this social media thing works, I might have to change how I do things or worse they might take my job.

If you read that without a smile, then maybe it’s time to click away, because this is really is about how to make your life easier by building a powerful social media team who will take work and worries off your desk.

Yes, the worries too … because if you can avoid these five critical pitfalls they’ll on your team and be making the same great choices you would make in the social media situations they face.

  • Pitfall 1: Change your team’s priorities randomly and often. Make each day a moving target. As soon as they start to look good at one thing, place your focus on a different aspect of the job.
  • Pitfall 2: Don’t allow them time to develop a realistic social strategy. Ask for a schedule that will have them up and using every tool you can name before they have enough time to learn it’s nuances and relational value. Just pull out a calendar. Then hold them to dates they can’t control.
  • Pitfall 3: Develop a plan for resources and budget, but don’t share it. That way they’ll have to ask permission for every paperclip they need to use. They won’t be able to have a viable idea, let alone respond to someone on social site.
  • Pitfall 4: Focus heavily on a quality and communication standard that requires every word to be vetted by 14 approval stages before it can go live. Remove all sense of trust in the people you hire. Train them to fear failure, mistakes, and problems. Then complain about the lack of response to customers.
  • Pitfall 5: Constantly point to misbehavior of customers that have spoken out against other companies. Live by a defensive motto of us versus the “users.” Never allow or invite customers to offer input or reach out to build relationships with the people who buy or use your company’s products.

The pleasures of the pitfalls are that they will keep a team “on their toes” and so busy trying to make something happen, they won’t have a chance to do something that will build anything.

On the other hand, if you want a peak-performing social media team let them onto the field.

  • Hire people who love serving people and give them clear goals and priorities.
  • Choose the people who love the company’s mission and let them build a practical strategy to achieve it. Give them time to move slowly onto the social web as they know the tools.
  • Give them the resources — people and tools — they need to perform well.
  • Train them how mature online relationships work and trust them to ask when things get critical or need legal counsel.
  • Encourage them to advocate for customers and ways for customers to build relationships with the company and each other.

The pleasures of opening the door to peak performance is a team that grows, keeps learning, and turns customers into fiercely loyal fans.

What are the pitfalls of social media management you’ve discovered? What do you see that leads a team to peak performance?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Work Hard, Play Slow, Make Business

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A Guest Post by Erno Hannink

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What I admire in the American culture is the quest for success. Most Americans I meet want to be number one and have an entrepreneurial spirit. Everyone can make it and be a success is standard in the US culture. It already starts with the competitions at school.

Let me show you some differences with the European cultures and what an entrepreneur might learn from this difference.

In Europe becoming No 1 is not everyone’s agenda. It is nice to have financial success but not necessary. Our rating for tests in school in the Netherlands, where I live, is mostly from 1-10 and 10 is the best and 1 is really bad. Most of the Europeans feel that 6 is good enough, no need to go for that 10. It’s similar for most countries in Europe. You can see that same attitude in the workplace at organizations and companies. We try to satisfy the customer, there is not really a need to surpass their expectations on delivery.

Entrepreneurship is in American DNA and that grows the nation. Europeans work less and therefore we can spend more time with our families and friends, cook and have dinner at home. This is the basis for less stress and healthier lives.

Where there is great success there is also great failure. The difference in rich and poor is huge. In our culture, you can become rich but the poor have a safety net. The government plays a large role in this. If a company needs to fire employees, the fired employees get money — first from the company and later from the government. This all needs to be paid with taxes. This makes the gap between rich and poor somewhat smaller. The poor do not have it easy, but will survive, have a roof over their head and are able to eat food, and use the health system.

In most of the European schools, English is part of our education. More and more Europeans use American social networks like Facebook and YouTube. This means that more and more people read and speak English. However, language is in the detail. Detail is where we can make mistakes and have misunderstandings.

There is also a difference in the home base. In the US there are 50 states and many cultures, but mostly people speak the same language: English. In Europe there are 44 countries that all have their own culture but more importantly, most have their own language. This makes the home base for a companies service or product already a lot smaller. Selling your products in several European countries is easier said than done. It involves language, cultural and national regulations.

I have worked for and with companies from the US and all over Europe. It is great to learn and enjoy all these cultural differences. If you want to expand you business outside the US it relatively easy these days. You can get in contact with local people via the social networks and get to know potential partners.

Once you start working with people from outside your culture it is great to see what you can learn from them. Take care not to force your way of working on to the other culture.

Have you been to Europe? Next time you come to Europe look at the differences and see what you might take home to use in your way of working. I would love to connect with you, I want to learn from you and maybe you can learn from me.

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Erno Hannink is a Social Media Specialist for Independent Professionals and Social Media Business Coach. Through the use of social media and a focus on online publishing of valuable information, Erno helps independent professionals attract and retain more clients. He is the author of the book ‘Attracting Clients – How Independent Professionals and solopreneurs can get new clients using the internet” (free download) and also blogs on enthousiasmeren.nl (Dutch). You can find Erno on Twitter as @ErnoHannink

Thanks, Erno. I’ve enjoyed knowing and learning from and with you. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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How To Be An Honest Blogger Without Being A Jerk

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Do You Like These Sandals?

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I ordered my daughter a new pair of Stride Rite sandals for the summer. We went to the store to pick them up, and I slipped an excited toddler (she loves fashion at the ripe age of 2) into a pair of brown and gold sandals.

“Do you like them?” I asked her, thinking I knew what her response would be.

My honest little Micah said, “No.”

To be honest or to be nice

What kind of blogger are you? Are you the honest blogger? You would have told me that you didn’t like those sandals point blank, like my daughter, without giving a care to the time, effort and money that went to making those sandals part of my kid’s wardrobe.On the other hand, do you consider yourself to be a nice blogger? You say what people want to hear. You would tell me that shiny footwear was the most adorable creation since ruffled dresses. You would also agree with the critic who hates the sandals. You want to be everybody’s friend.

There are pros and cons to each disposition.

If you’re always honest,

  • You get to be yourself, an easy assignment.
  • People will know exactly how you stand on an issue.
  • You could drum up business with your truthful outlook.
  • Your words might evoke anger, frustration or hurt feelings.
  • Your brutal honesty might scare people away from following you.
  • Your name could be destroyed if you come off as a jerk.
  • People will feel comfortable sharing their true colors. (Is this a pro or con? That depends on you).

If you’re always nice,

  • People will like you, and you always will have people to agree with you.
  • People will be drawn to your pleasant disposition.
  • You could create work for yourself with your kind demeanor.
  • You don’t get to always be yourself because you strictly want to be nice. It can be difficult to fake how you truly feel.
  • Readers might wonder what the deal is if they find you contradicting yourself for the sake of niceness.
  • People will wonder if you are human or an alien from “V” because you don’t show anger.

The solution: be both

Season your words with salt, the old adage goes. Be honest and be nice. It’s easy to express your opinion when you know the majority will agree with you. Perhaps your blog post reads, “Having a baby is a miracle.”What if a group will not like, possible hate, your opinion? It might be difficult to say, “A woman should never have an abortion.”

What do you do when you need to express yourself on a controversial topic?

  • Don’t use disrespectful speech, and mind your manners. That means you say how you feel without bashing the opposing party.
  • Back up your claims. Don’t make brazen remarks without listing your reasons why you feel the way you do. Your argument might be enough to make a person question his differing viewpoint if you give convincing evidence.
  • Be thorough. This goes along with the last point. Throw in some expert opinions and statistics to support your case.
  • Acknowledge the other side. Your post should include the opposing side’s perspective and why you disagree. This way, you say, “I’m willing to agree to disagree.”
  • Respond to feedback. Controversial posts get people talking, and that’s great. You should be sure to respond to feedback from people genuinely interested in the topic, whether they support you or disagree. Be careful with people only looking to argue, rather than discuss. You can choose to respond to the comment on the post, respond privately or ignore them completely.

Be specific

My daughter said she didn’t like the sandals. I later discovered she loved the sandals and didn’t like that they were a smidge too large for her.The most important way to be an honest, non-jerky blogger is to be specific when you write. Describe your opinion as thoroughly as possible. Make a series on your topic if you can’t fit it into one post.

Get out there and blog your heart out. It’s what people really want.

How do you manage to be an honest blogger without being a jerk?

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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Listen … Are You Doing Enough?

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Italians, Prohibition, and Internet Strategy

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My grandmother, Liza, was born in northern Italy in 1884. She was as tall as I am. I’m not sure, but that might be why she immigrated to this new land.

When Liza arrived here at the turn of the twentieth century, she ended up in a village of about 1000 people. Almost all of them spoke Italian. Most of the men worked in nearby the coal mines. My grandma ran a saloon.

Somewhere along the line, Liza got married and had three children — my father, my uncle, and my aunt. All three grew up speaking two languages. In 1919, two things happened.

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  1. The United States Congress passed the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.
  2. My dad — of course he wasn’t my dad yet — turned 12 that summer and left home.

My dad traveled about 7 days to get to the biggest town, two towns over and 30 miles away. He found a job, working as an Italian shoemaker’s helper for 50 cents a week. He found a place to live with a brother and sister who offered a room in their home. They were Italian immigrants … and bootleggers.

My first generation American worked for the shoemaker, worked in a factory, and worked in the 700-degree heat as man who silvered mirrors. He used tell stories about what he learned in every job he took. He also talked business in Italian and English at the dinner table of his landlord every night when he went home.

He never was a bootlegger, but he a learned lot from the guy who was. He used to say that had he been, we’d have been a lot richer when I was growing up. But that’s not my point. He was plenty successful as it was.

At the height of the American Depression — two more things happened.

  1. The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution ended Prohibition on December 5, 1933.
  2. My dad and the bootlegger who became his partner opened a saloon that same day.

You might think that Internet strategy works differently. It doesn’t. The Internet is wider and faster. You don’t have to walk for days, but the people are the same.

Italian or English, Online or offline … strategy is a practical plan to use the conditions and your unique skills and position to act on opportunities as they come.

I’m sure there were lots of folks who talked about building a saloon when prohibition was over. But in that town my dad and his partner were the only ones who didn’t just talk.

Are you doing enough?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Blue ‘Vette, Pink Flamingos, and Customer Relationships

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How a Car Made a Conversation

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I had the lovely experience of spending two hours with @connieburke in a Chevy Corvette Grand Sport while we were at SxSW. It wasn’t because I’m anything special. Chevy had two ‘vettes, two Camaros, and the Chevy Volt ready for Ride and Drives so that folks could have the experience.

On Sunday when my SOBCon partner, Terry Starbucker walked by the cars, we stopped to say hello and talk to Connie about how ride and drive was going.

All I did was ask.

“Hey, Connie, you know I used to live in Austin. We could take one of these ‘vettes to go see the house we built. I could show you hill country and why folks really love it out by the lake.”

All Connie did was ask.

“I’ll put in for a car on Tuesday. Let’s see if we could make that happen.”

As it turned out, Tuesday it was raining … our GOOD luck because it meant we got the Blue Grand Sport for a couple of hours.

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Connie and I hit the road at around 11:30 a.m. As we started, she was driving. Google maps wasn’t much help getting us to where I wanted to go. We ended up having a conversation with Onstar.

Seemed kind of weird having OnStar in ‘vette, just sayin’ … Good weird though because it got us to the “pink flamingos” at Pots and Plants the Nursery at 360 and Bee Caves Road in Austin.

The flamingos enticed us to pull in and park.

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But I think Connie was most partial to the old Chevy truck.
Or maybe she was just taking pix for my dossier.

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I took the wheel as we left. Going up the on ramp to 360, I slowed for a car to pass. Connie quietly said, “Ya know, you have the acceleration.”

Oh yeah! I was driving the ‘vette.

While we took 360 out to 2222 old route then to 620, I told stories of ’69 ‘vettes — one that my best friend, Nancy, raced in gymkhanas and another that my husband raced in the Grand Nationals.

When we reach the house I once lived in I looked over the fence to see the red oak I planted in the clay caliche soil in the dry Austin heat.

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On the way to Austin’s famous Oasis restaurant on the lake, we told stories about how our kids grew up. We talked business and possibilities.

At lunch we did about 10 minutes trading our favorite Stephen Wright jokes. Who knew that about either of us?

And at the end of lunch, I bought t-shirts for my son and my husband who’ll remember many meals we shared there.

That’s how a car connected Connie to my best friend, my husband, my son, a house we built — all parts of my history — and a hillside full of pink flamingos.

I became a person during that conversation. So did she when she told me some of the same things.

You can bet that I’ll be showing up if she calls. Proof to seal the deal is that I’m not sharing the conversation on the way back into Austin down 6th Street.

It’s not so outlandish that blue ‘vette and some pink flamingos would lead to good business … The car connected us in a mutual experience. Our trip wasn’t about the car it was about the people in it. The car started a conversation that led to a relationship. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken to cover the same ground without it.

This wasn’t a free ride without purpose. It was building relationships one person at a time. Back at the convention center, our meeting with Mark Horvath went even better because we knew other just that little bit more.

We’re already ready exploring some ideas together. A natural one is Chevy: Your Mission. Our Drive. People who would like to make a difference in their community (with the help of Chevy vehicles and volunteers) can fill out a short, online application on our Facebook Chevy Missions tab or follow progress on @ChevyMissions

Every business is relationships and relationships are everyone’s business. Companies who reach out fearlessly with trust in their customers are the ones who can win.

You must have a story about how a product connected two people in business. Will you take a minute to share it now?

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Thank you, Connie and Chevy for that … looking forward to how we’ll be helping folks in North Central region with the new initiative.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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What Makes a Great Working Relationship Actually Work?

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Who Does the Work? Who Benefits?

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I’ve been a freelance writer, an online publisher, and a strategic consultant. I’ve handled a multi-state whole sale consumer products accounts, selling to big chains and to mom and pop stores. I’ve presented huge educational programs to state boards of education and made deals with publishers on four continents. I’ve built a successful conference and convinced big brand sponsors to partner with us. I led the strategy that turned around a failing company. Most of what I know about getting folks to work with me I’ve learned the hard way, by doing things wrong and adjusting out when those things didn’t work.

But I pay attention … especially to one question that makes a working relationship actually work.

Working relationships work because an exchange of value occurs. Value can be currency, time, resources, risk, or sharing a network. Somehow in the best working relationships a balance seems to keep itself, without any party too closely monitoring the score.

So if you’re looking to start a new working relationship, you might want to do a little more work before you event start.

  • Know what you offer to the partnership. What can you bring that I don’t have, but would help me to my goals?
  • Know what you ask of it. What could I offer in return that would do the same for you?
  • Make sure the two are balanced, aligned, defined, and limited in scope. “I”ll do X. What I ask is you do Y. Those two things should move us both forward. Would that work for you? We could try it once as a proof of concept to see whether it works.”
  • Then consider that a promise, a pact, a contract made in your words so that you work your butt off to keep to it.

Investors call that “share risk, share the benefit.”
Working partnership might think of it as “share the workload, share the win.”

It’s a great way to get everyone working at what we do well and still get everything done. It’s also a great way to make an offer to a new client.

What makes your great working relationships work?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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