All Posts By

Marijean

Aug 05
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Minding the Boundaries of Social Networking

By Communications, Social Media

It happened again. In a small town, it’s really not that difficult to network, and network appropriately. Heck, in a large town it’s not that difficult. So much depends on showing up, introducing yourself, and not being a creep.

Sometimes people get overly excited. Sometimes they stray into aggressiveness. Often, this is accompanied by a big leap over a boundary. Let’s review the basics:

  1. Dating sites are for dating. Dates are for getting to know one another for a romantic purpose. Dates are not for business connections, marketing help, free business advice, etc.
  2. LinkedIn, and other business social networks and groups are for business networking. Don’t flirt with people on LinkedIn.
  3. Facebook is for friends and could be for business or dating, depending on how you roll. But it’s NOT for strangers. Don’t confuse being a stranger with being someone’s friend. Don’t confuse a friend of a friend with anything other than a stranger, unless you have some other frame of reference for them. Not all people are good people.

Another creepy incidence I’ve encountered, and forgive me, I’m not being sexist but I’ve truly only had men do this: guys complaining about their wives or girlfriends in a business setting.

HEY GUYS: don’t do this. Not only does it make you look bad, but it appears that you’re fishing for some kind of attention from the females in the room. Because you are. Stop it.

 

Jun 26
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What’s the Most Valuable Social Media Tool We Should Be Using?

By Social Media

This is a common workshop topic, and one of the questions I get asked pretty early on in any client engagement.

What should we be doing in social media? 

Should we have Instagram?

Should we be using Pinterest?

How about Vine?

Have you heard of Swayy (or insert other new social tool here)?

My first answer to this is DO NOT TRY TO DO EVERYTHING. There. I said it. The next answer is that it depends on two things: the kind of business you’re in, and the capacity you or your team have to keep up with using multiple tools.

Before you consider adopting multiple tools, platforms, apps, etc. answer this:

Do you have a blog? 

It’s still the first tool to master. It’s still the core of your social strategy. It’s still the ONE THING you must get done for search engine optimization, to establish your company as authentic and thoughtful. It’s still the place where you will prove that your team includes thought leaders in your industry. It’s still where you can tell the story of how your company does what you do better/differently/faster/with more credibility than others out there. Before you start using a Facebook page, tweeting, Instagramming, etc., make sure you’re publishing a valuable blog.

Jun 25
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Two Annoying Things: How to Get Through Your List Painlessly

By Communications

My boyfriend (yes, I have a boyfriend) came up with an ingenious idea. He tries to knock off two annoying things per day. What’s an annoying thing, you may ask? A sample:

  • A call to the cable company
  • Any interaction with your health or other kind of insurance
  • Any legal loose ends
  • Returning something that doesn’t fit or is broken
  • A visit to the DMV
  • Mailing or shipping a physical package at the post office or UPS

Everyone has these tasks to complete and if they build up, it can get pretty overwhelming. Thus the two-a-day rule. I’ve been trying it and you know, it’s really helping. I feel pretty virtuous at the end of the day when I can report into him that I’ve crossed two annoying things off my list.

We decided yesterday that any call to the cable company counts as two, by the way, so if you feel like trying it out, feel free to adopt that caveat!

Try it — tell me what you think. I’m really trying to keep it up — and it seems there’s ALWAYS two things I can find that qualify by the end of every day.

Jun 24
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Summer Fridays, Vacations, and Preserving your Sanity, Improving your Health

By Communications

I always ask clients if they’re planning on taking any time off this summer. I’m delighted when they tell me yes. I admonish them when they say they haven’t taken a vacation in years. I have seen the value of time off for every single person I’ve worked with. Getting away from the stress, the colleagues, the commute, the office, and the work itself just has to happen once in awhile. It’s good for you; and if you’re the boss who wants your people to work constantly — know that it’s good for your staff, as well.

Here’s where I really push the envelope. Not only do I think people should take vacations, I think for some people, working more than eight hours a day can be really damaging. A new article in Forbes says there’s evidence that working long hours may kill you. It’s not hard to believe, if you’ve known anyone or been the person who is at a desk all day, never finding time for exercise, eating right, managing stress, and having healthy relationships outside of work. Work less. Live more.

The last firm I worked for before starting my own introduced the concept of “Summer Fridays” to me. Every Friday from Memorial Day to Labor Day the office shut down at noon. It was glorious. It was hard, sometimes, to get organized enough to finish the necessary work to get out on time on  Friday, but the goal was certainly there. I’ve committed to the practice in my own firm and while I’m always connected (unless I’m truly on vacation) by phone, text, e-mail, etc. just in case, it’s important to me to have that weekday time to recover and refresh. (Anyone who thinks  weekends are for that either doesn’t have kids or doesn’t have friends. My weekends are often way more exhausting than the Monday-Friday week.)

So how about you? Will you be taking any time off this summer? 

Jun 23
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How, and Why, to Use LinkedIn Projects

By Communications

There was much discussion at a client’s office last week about the use of projects on LinkedIn profiles. It started, because the client has clients of its own. For purposes of sales, lead generation, and peer-to-peer relationship building, they wanted to create a profile for a team member that made sure it was clear there was a relationship with the firm’s customer.

It’s not appropriate to create a profile that shows that customer as the team member’s employer — that’s just not true. Any time you include a client in Experience it’s going to look like you were an employee there — even if it’s simultaneous with your current work experience.

Enter “Projects” as the solution to this problem.

When you add Projects to your LinkedIn profile, they are listed underneath the employer that managed that work. You can list a client company name in the project, and even tag other project team members, but it doesn’t make it look like you had a desk, a parking spot, and a 401k there.

If you need guidance on how to add projects, just follow the instructions here.