Creating a Social Media Plan of Action

Busy professionals who use social media for personal branding, networking, job search, etc. normally don’t have time to throw away. Yet, most use social media without having any real strategy. Sure, they may get a “hit” on occasion with a business referral or job opening information, but those happenings tend to be a happy surprise. In […]

Power Relationship Building With LinkedIn Contacts

Are you already using LinkedIn Contacts? Interestingly enough, the social network released the feature with relatively little fanfare this year. However, it is easily one of the most important updates LinkedIn has ever added to their list of already impressive free services. LinkedIn Contacts is LinkedIn’s answer to a CRM (customer relationship management) system. It allows you to […]

Will a Technology Fast Make You More Productive?

Many of us eat, sleep, and breathe technology. I’m no different, in fact, it’s my job to know the newest happenings in mobile and social media technology and then relate the practical applications to everyday busy professionals. However, while technology, used strategically, should make us more efficient, the overuse of technology makes us less effective. One of […]

How to Build Your Personal Brand as an Expert

One of the questions I encounter frequently, especially by professionals who are just starting to use social media, is how I built a brand around being an expert. While I’m always happy to answer, I find myself at a partial loss simply because the answer is both amazingly simple and complicated. The short answer is that […]

Six Ways Sales Professionals Should Use Social Media

Most sales professionals I’ve encountered are using LinkedIn for business. However, few truly understand how to fully leverage sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Social media is not only great for building relationships, but it is also wonderful for prospecting and attracting clients through a strong brand. I just finished conducting a workshop for a large […]

Three Things No One Tells You about Social Media

Social media allows us to connect with professionals and amazing people all over the globe. Millions of people use networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to connect daily and build their personal and business brands. However, there are three things that few people mention when it comes to using social media for personal branding. If you […]

Super-Size Your Personal Brand on Social Media

Creating a strong personal brand online will help you build credibility in the eyes of followers, connect with influences and will ultimately result in your being contacted by key decision makers for opportunity. However, a powerful personal brand does not happen overnight, nor is it the result of simply “showing up” on social networks like LinkedIn, […]

Three Tools to Leverage Your Client’s Brand

Competition is steep in today’s business world. People are constantly bombarded with advertisements, solicitations, and other marketing messages. It pays (literally) to know how to cut through the clutter to make an impact. One of the best ways to outshine the competition and differentiate your personal and/or professional brand is through directly leveraging your clients’ brands. […]

Three Tips for Handling a Social Media Brand Crisis

One of the most amazing benefits of leveraging social media is the ability to gain momentum behind a concept or brand. The corresponding negative is damaging publicity and untrue information can also spread quickly and gain traction. Most professionals are wholly unaware of how to handle a social media crisis for their personal brand or […]

LinkedIn Connection Requests via Facebook Message?

One of my mentors recently contacted me when she received a LinkedIn connection request via her Facebook inbox. Was it legit or spam? I decided to conduct a little experiment to see. Over a year ago, Facebook assigned users a Facebook email address. If you do not update your email address, your Facebook email appears […]