Social Media Brand Smarts 101

Are you a smart social media player?

What are smart companies doing in social media?

They are listening to and engaging with their customers daily.

So simple and regular practice yields exponential results.

How can you engage smarter?

“The Mantra… is a word of power and light that comes from the over-mind inspiration or from some very high plane of Intuition. Its characteristics are a language that conveys infinitely more than the mere surface sense of words seems to indicate, a rhythm that means even more than the language and is born out of the Infinite and disappears into it…”

Sri Aurobindo (The Future Poetry)

Just as the mantra comes from a spark of divine inspiration; so too does your voice.

What is your unique voice?

By this I mean, your essence, your spark, that which when ignited tells others without wonder who you are, who you’ve become or are yet becoming.  Your voice is as unique to you as your fingerprint.  Have you claimed your uniqueness?

Finding the voice that is YOU alone will support you endlessly.  When shared, this voice carries a quality of authenticity that builds trust amongst your tribe, your fans, your audience.

Your Voice, Your Mantra

Are you using your voice, or that of another?

Do you know what your voice is, or has it been buried for so long you’re not sure?

If you could re-discover your uniqueness, would you be interested?

How could getting clearer with your voice make any difference to what you do?

Would it make a difference if people could feel the real you in your words?

Would it make a difference if people felt a deeper bond of loyalty to you because they trusted your ‘voice’?

I believe the answer to these questions is YES.  And I also believe that when we get a yes; it’s a call to action.  If you’re feeling a yes; then let’s get started!

Call to Action!

Here are some stimulating questions to help in getting clearer with your voice:

• What is the voice you’re currently sharing?
  Is it authentically, uniquely you? If so, what are the things that make that true? If not, whose voice are you using?
  Why? What are the qualities of that voice that you resonate (vibe) with?

• How could the voice you’re sharing be more accurate to the real you?
  What could you add that would help others get a better sense of your true essence?

• Has your unique voice evolved over time with growing awareness, changing interests, etc.?
  Is this an environmental influence of sorts?
  Would your fingerprint change with changes in your environment?

Dig Deep~

These are not trick questions.  Only questions to have you dig a bit deeper.  Our finger prints don’t change.  They are with us from birth.

Our essence, that which is at the core of our being doesn’t change either.

It’s our life experiences, specifically our perspectives of those experiences,  that change and either bring us nearer or farther to that core essence.  The more aligned our thinking is with our true nature, the more in sync we are with our uniqueness.  Our essence.  Our brilliance.

Are You Listening?

It’s this core that we’re listening for.

This is our voice.  This is the voice we want to bring to every thing that we say or do.  This is the spark that when ignited shines our brilliance for all the world to see…and for our audience to align with as they feel supported in shining their own brilliance.

Isn’t this what we all desire, deep down?  It doesn’t matter what our job, vocation, or talent is.  This applies to them all.  It isn’t prejudiced; doesn’t segregate.  Deep down we all want to be who we are, be recognized and have others be able to do the same.  Consciously.

How can you impart “infinitely more than the mere surface sense of words seems to indicate” as the mantra does?

Simply by infusing your essence, your eternal spark of inspiration into every word you choose.  It’s about layers, depth and truth of character.

If this interests and inspires you, please share your thoughts in the comment section.  Let’s talk.

If you’d like some gentle assistance in finding your unique voice and some guidance on how to better share that with others; please connect with me here.

Happy Buddha Photo

I want to highlight an article about the history of social media that my friend Zaskoda shared on his blog.   Zaskoda has been ahead of the curve on the web for years.

Here’s an entry about Social Media from Wikipedia that he found:

Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences, typically via the Internet and mobile communications networks.

The Internet has been about people creating content for years.  What is new is that many more people are doing it… and its getting easier ( or the people that grew up with it, the digital natives make it look easy ) and a lot more sharable.

I highly recommend you read Zaskoda’s article to get some perspective on how mature social media really is.

Starting a new on line community space can be a bit like throwing a party. You have the idea, decide on a theme, pick a time and location, send the invitations and wait for the people to show up.

When you open the doors to any new community on the web, having community managers ( party organizers ) are essential; especially in the beginning stages, if you are going have any kind of focused success with your community.

Here’s a story from the book Crowdsourcing about the challenges that Assignment Zero ran into when they created their new community to crowdsource the collection of crowdsourcing the news.

Rather than recruiting people beforehand to manage each topic, doling out assignments, corresponding with would-be contributors or just providing a friendly face – we decided to hold off building this essential layer of community managers until after the party had already started. It was a fateful mistake. The flood of guests made our community’s design flaws quickly apparent.

Baffled by the overall concept and confused by the design of the website and unable to connect directly to a manager or organizer, most of the initial community members simply drifted away.

Communities are about creating and managing experiences. My personal experience as a community manager has shown me that organizations tend to forget about the crucial role of having real people to engage new members. My community manager friends have also experienced this lack of understanding by their organizations. Community managers are critically important to help create a sense of belonging in any new and existing community.

If you’re starting an on-line community here are some things to consider:

• Pre Plan the role of Community Manager
• Your Community Manager will be at the front line of community relationships
• Hire for quality. Excellent people are a wise investment
• Get your Community Manager involved in site organization and planning
• A good Community Manager will be an excellent resource for greater insight into your community

Key Findings from the study include data such as:

• 105 million Americans contribute to social media
• Social networking has grown 93% since 2006
• 7 million Americans are “heavy” social media contributors (6+ activities) who connect with 248 people on a ‘one to many’ basis in a typical week
• 54% of micro-bloggers post or “tweet” daily
• 72% of micro-bloggers under age 18 post or “tweet” daily

These statistics were shared with me via AJM Marketing

Ice cream and social media have a lot in common.  You can make your own ice cream just like the big ice cream companies with the tools of social ice cream.  Watch the video to see social media compared to the spread of ice cream businesses all over Scoopsville.

Give some link love this Valentine’s curiosity of Hubspot

Twitter fast growing beyond its roots

A look at many of the applications that are extending Twitter beyond its conventional uses.

The Now Web, Innovation and Disruption

An innovative look at change and disruption, Google, Facebook notifier and Twitter. The future of the web as a now communication tool and great reading to encourage your flexibility.

Twitter Founders living in Dreamworld?

A nice little behind the scenes on Twitter.

Facebook now has more Friend Feed “Like” Features

If you’re on Facebook and have activity other places on the web Facebook is making it easier to add your blogs and more to your Facebook feed.