Do you know someone who continues to procrastinate?
Do you find yourself sometimes procrastinating to do something you do not like?
Does the word procrastination send you running?
Let me share a story…
Years ago in Texas I had a salesman who had great potential, but would always procrastinate. I was and still am a big listener of positive and inspirational material. Finally I convinced him to purchase how to overcome procrastination a course from the leader of inspirational material Nightingale Conant.
As time went by and I followed up there was no change. When we were out calling one day, he needed something from his truck. Low and behold, the procrastination CD’s were still wrapped and unopened. When asked, he said he did not have the time to listen to them. True Story.
LACK OF DECISION
In study after study LACK OF DECISION was near the head of the list of the 30 major causes of FAILURE. This is no mere statement of a theory—it is a fact. PROCRASTINATION, the opposite of DECISION, is a common enemy which practically every man must conquer.
Successful men and women have one habit in common. They reach DECISIONS PROMPTLY, and change these decision very SLOWLY. People who fail at success, without exception, have the habit of reaching decisions, IF AT ALL, very slowly, and of changing these decisions quickly and often.
Is there something you have been putting off in Business or Social Media? Taking on another platform? Hiring a outside company to manage your social media efforts? Or just not committed to social media at the level you need to be successful?
- “Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth.”
Close friends and relatives, while not meaning to do so, often handicap one through “opinions” and sometimes through ridicule, which is meant to be humorous. Thousands of men and women carry inferiority complexes with them all through life, because some well-meaning, but ignorant person destroyed their confidence through “opinions” or ridicule.
- Genuine wisdom is usually conspicuous through modesty and silence.
Those who reach DECISIONS promptly and definitely, know what they want, and generally get it. The leaders in every walk of life DECIDE quickly, and firmly. That is the major reason why they are leaders. The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.
SAMUEL ADAMS AND JOHN HANCOCK
Let us briefly review the events which gave birth to this POWER. The story begins with an incident in Boston, March 5, 1770. British soldiers were patrolling the streets, by their presence, openly threatening the citizens. The colonists resented armed men marching in their midst.
They began to express their resentment openly, hurling stones as well as epithets, at the marching soldiers, until the commanding officer gave orders, “Fix bayonets. . . . Charge!”
The battle was on. It resulted in the death and injury of many.
The incident aroused such resentment that the Provincial Assembly, (made up of prominent colonists), called a meeting for the purpose of taking definite action. Two of the members of that Assembly were, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams. They spoke up courageously, and declared that a move must be made to eject all British soldiers from Boston.
Remember this-a DECISION, in the minds of two men, might properly be called the beginning of the freedom which we, of the United States now enjoy.
Making a decision sometimes takes courage. Is there something standing in your way, a co-worker, a boss, a relative?
Get off the bench and into the game! 2015 is upon us and Social Media is taking businesses to the next level. Are you one of them? Everything is cumulative and counts. The longer you put off the decision to ramp it up, the further behind with little prospect of catching up.
ORGANIZED PLANNING IN SOCIAL MEDIA
A QUITTER NEVER WINS-AND—A WINNER NEVER QUITS
Social media can be a very rewarding marketing channel, but it can often be an elusive domain for small businesses. There are a lot of avenues you can go down and there are a lot of variables to consider given the specific nature of your business and industry. To be effective you need to plan a complete strategy and implement it in a careful and measured way.
The more specific you can get with your plan, the more effective you’ll be in its implementation. Try and keep it concise and don’t make your social media marketing strategy so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable.
1. Create social media objectives and goals
The first step to any social media marketing strategy is to establish objectives and goals that you hope to achieve. Having these objectives also allows you to quickly react when social media campaigns are not meeting your expectations. Without these goals, you have no means of gauging your success and no means of proving your return on investment.
These goals should be aligned with your broader marketing strategy, so that your social media efforts all drive towards business objectives. If your social media marketing strategy is shown to drive business goals forward, you’re more likely to get executive buy-in and investment.
2. What Question Are You Answering?
The key to any successful social media channel is to be clear about one question: the question you are answering for your audience. Discovering this question will keep your social message on point and relevant. Try to focus your posts, information or articles on answering your central question.
3. Conduct a Social Media Audit
How is social media performing for you today? Are you achieving your goals and objectives? Reaching the right targeted audience? Are we increasing revenues and driving more sales? More fund raising?
How do compare to your competitors?
4. Establish Your Brand Messaging
Based on your goals, mission statement and branding, you need to start creating messaging categories and tones that are in line with your business. This is your “voice”, and it needs to be appropriate to your brand, industry and audience.
5. Create Engaging Content
Content is king in the social media world, rather engaging content. Photos are still the #1 engagement media, with video rapidly approaching. Plain text is waning, even Twitter now has photos, which get 43% more retweets. Where will you find engaging content?
Consumers can also offer social media inspiration, not only through the content that they share but in the way that they phrase their messages. See how your target audience writes Tweets, and strive to mimic that style. Also learn their habits, when they share and why, and use that as a basis for your social media marketing plan.
A final source of social media inspiration is industry leaders. There are giants who simply do an incredible job of social media marketing, from Coca Cola and Taco Bell to Virgin Airlines and Starbucks. Companies in every industry imaginable have managed to distinguish themselves through advanced social media strategies
6. Create an Editorial Calendar
Your editorial calendar lists the dates and times you intend to post blogs, Facebook posts, Google+, Twitter messages and other content you may plan to use during your social media campaigns. Create the calendar and then schedule your messaging in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the day.
Make sure your calendar reflects your goals, objectives and mission assigned to each social media profile.
7. Evaluate and Adjust
As you monitor your actions, if something is not working after a long enough period of time, you need to adjust or eliminate it. If you find certain messaging is not resonating with your audience then change it up. If your brand is growing on Facebook and Twitter, but stalling on LinkedIn, re-evaluate your efforts and invest your time in the platforms that are working or try another platform.
8. Pay When Possible
Facebook is now Pay to Play. Gone are the free days of having wide organic reach on your posts. In order to reach more audience you will need to advertise. Other social sites maybe trending that way in the future.
Your budget may be small and there are great things you can do with native advertising, but paying for advertising can accelerate your growth on social media. The targeted advertising that many platforms offer can find the exact followers that will connect with your brand and become evangelists.
Planning and outlining your strategy in full will give you greater success and more engagement than other businesses who jump in blind.
WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA 2014
It changes FAST & OFTEN. Going forward expect more platforms. Boomeon for Baby Boomers launched and so did Ello to take your privacy back.
Did you know that Tumblr and Pinterest were the fastest growing social media sites in 2014?
Pinterest grew by 110 percent and Tumblr did better still, registering growth of 120 percent. Both platforms boast social’s youngest users, too, with 70 percent of their audience aged between 16 and 34 years-old.
Facebook remains the number one social network worldwide, with more than 1.35 billion users in total, but YouTube has the highest visitation rate of users each month.
Snapchat is the fastest growing app in the mobile space, and one in five people have visited YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ in the past month.
- 40% of people logon to social media via their mobile device daily.
Stay Tuned…2015 will bring more excitement and changes. Time to get into the GAME & WIN!
About Blair
Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1Billion+ in sales annually.
Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.
Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.
The Race is ON! – Get into the Game and WIN!
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