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 How To Activate Your Social
Super Powers
The X-Men movies got me to thinking about how great it would be to have a super power. I could see myself whipping up a few storms.
But I think the most awesome super power would be the power to change lives ... to cause a chain reaction of positive energy with amazing ripple effects. And that's a power that you and I already have.
Let me just say right away that you don't have to be super social to
have social super powers.
Our Words Have Great PowerStudies have shown the power our positive and negative words have on the people around us. Unfortunately, our brains are wired to focus more on the negative words. As a result, it takes at least two positive comments to drown out one negative comment. And that ratio goes up significantly the closer the relationship. And in business, word of mouth is more powerful than advertising. In fact, word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20% to 50% of all purchasing decisions, according to the McKinsey Quarterly.
Email and Social Media Increases Your Power
One of the things that define social media is the idea that
you can become the publisher of content. Through your e-newsletters, blogs and postings on social sites, your words are broadcast to your network and exponentially to your network's network.
This makes you a very powerful and influential person.
So How Can You Use Your Powers For Good?
Of course we want to use our powers to help ourselves and our businesses. That's why many of us have crawled out of our
protective cocoons to connect, whether it's at a networking event or through social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
But we can use that power to help others as well. When we extend the
good beyond ourselves, our social super powers can transform us and our businesses beyond what we thought possible.
Use your considerable powers of communication to encourage and promote others. If you come across a great product or service, tell others about it. If someone in your network wrote something you found helpful, pass it on.
We all can use an encouraging word. Here are some suggestions on how you can do this within the context of email and social media.
In Your Emails
If you publish an e-newsletter to your contact base, have a section where you can spotlight a client or colleague or recommend a useful resource, website or networking group. If you receive an e-newsletter that you found helpful, pass it on by forwarding it to a friend or sharing on your social networks.
On LinkedIn
This business network allows you to make recommendations. Look through your connections and find those you'd like to recommend to others. The recommendations don't have to be long. Just a couple of sentences is fine.
On Facebook
This one is super easy. Facebook has like buttons as part of every update, photo, link, etc. Use it. Comment on posts and share what you like. You can suggest fan pages that you find helpful and like your favorite brands.
You can also post positive, helpful updates. If you find it hard to come up with the words, there's a great app called Shuffle that has a long list of popular Facebook updates you can use. One of the topics covered is encouragement.
On Twitter
There are a lot of ways to be influential on Twitter. You can retweet good posts and write encouraging posts yourself. You can also use positive quotes. Some people don't like quotes, but I find a good quote can help brighten my day. And quotes often get retweeted.
Follow Friday: Every Friday you can recommend great tweeps to follow with the hashtags #ff or #followfriday. When you do this, it's best to give a reason to follow, rather than just listing names. Here are two examples on how to do this effectively:
List one at a time: TGIF! For excellent networking and job hunting ideas follow blogger @careerjockey #followfriday List a group based on similar attributes. Here's how @danperezfilms does it: #FF #SouthFlorida "Womentrepreneurs" @loisgeller @Bristol_PR @designchicklet @ines @SarahElles @AgustinaP @Xpressomarketin @carrieimpact
Make a Referral
Monday: This one is newer and not as often used, but I sure hope it catches on. On Mondays you can refer a company or a person with the hashtag #marm. Here's an example:
I just referred @AcmePrinting to my BFFs at @ZetaGraphics both do awesome work #marm
What Goes Around Comes Around
While doing good is its own reward, all this positive energy you're creating does come back to you. You'll find that people will also recommend you and pass along your info to others. So go out and use your powers for good!
Start the Ripple Today
If you found this helpful, share it with your network or email to a friend. You can also send me an email with someone you recommend
and I'll include both and your recommendation in my next Xpresso Break.
Recommend someone now!
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| Sandi Abbott
Xpresso Marketing
Join My Network:
Have a question about email marketing or social media? Send me your question and I'll include in my next email or on my fan page: Ask Me a Question! |
Great Connections
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Here are some great people to get to know.
E-Newsletter:
Lisa D. Sparks is the Regional Development Director for
Constant Contact. She is also someone who practices her social super powers all the time. Join her email list to find out about great free workshops and tools.
Twitter:
Follow @danperezfilms
Dan Perez is an award-winning filmmaker, video producer, blogger. He tweets a lot on Fridays, connecting folks through #FollowFriday.
Facebook:
This is a bit of a shameless plug, but totally worth it. We recently helped PrintFarm, a local Miami printer, launch a campaign to increase fans and help a local charity at the same time.
PrintFarm will donate $1 in printing to Big Brothers Big Sisters for every new fan. Their goal is donate $10,000 in printing by the end of the summer. Let's help them out!
Blogs:
Jorge Diaz has a great blog offering excellent advice on networking, job hunting and changing careers. His blog is Career Jockey. Check it out!
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Client Spotlight
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Gateways Unlimited
 Gateways Unlimited is a full service Brand Promotion agency.
They provide innovative and uniquely branded promotional items at competitive prices to meet any marketing challenge.
I help them publish their bi-monthly e-newsletters on BestDeals, CreativeIdeas & EcoFriendly promotions. I especially like working on their eco-friendly emails, here's a sample issue. Check it out!
EcoFriendly Emails
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Free Resources
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