We've all experienced the online narcissist. The person who is constantly sharing what they are working on, where they are going, who they are going there with, and what they are eating when they get there. And we think, "I'm so glad that I'm not like them!" I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you are. It's not always as extreme, but when I look at how professionals use digital platforms for business purposes, I find they do the exact same thing. Salespeople brag about how good they are at hitting quota and the features of what they sell. Executives have lists of their companies' accomplishments and their rise through the … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Stop Wasting Your Work Time On Social Media
Like most things in life, the rise of social media platforms has been both a blessing and a curse for professionals. There is a host of new opportunities to create meaningful engagement...and lose hours of productivity. Our approach to these platforms goes a long way to determining whether they really help us in our professional lives. For example, my wife surfs Facebook after a long day to connect with her friends and see what people have posted. I play video games. Both are totally valid forms of relaxation. But I don't play video games in the middle of the day. And you shouldn't mindlessly surf social media and pretend that … [Read more...]
2 Simple Guidelines that Boost Your LinkedIn Messaging Game
I got an interesting question from my ex-intern’s younger brother who is also a student at my alma mater (try following that chain). It was a simple question, and he was asking because he thought that he was too inexperienced to know the right answer. But I would guess that it’s a question that many, if not most, professionals have about messaging on LinkedIn. He asked: What is the right tone to take? I do not know if I am supposed to be formal like on an email or more casual like I am talking with my friends on Facebook. What’s appropriate? It’s an interesting question because digital communication is actually a pretty new thing. … [Read more...]
The Secret Reason to Like Job Anniversaries on LinkedIn
updated January 2022 I've been showing people how to leverage LinkedIn for over a decade. And one of the most consistently maligned pieces of functionality has been the job anniversary notification. Over and over I hear some form of, "Why is LinkedIn gumming up my feed? Why should I care if Bill Jones has been at Company XYZ for 6 years? Does "liking" that really mean anything?" Well, yes it does. The Science of Online Small Talk To explain the value of liking job anniversaries, we have to look at something else that people don't really enjoy: small talk. It's easy to bash small talk. We think that it's an awkward and … [Read more...]
How to Lose Friends and Kill Your Influence By Sharing Political Posts
Do you remember the last time you saw a social media post about an opposing political viewpoint? Your face probably got a little red. You immediately thought of a response that included a few choice four-letter words. Maybe it was a meme lampooning your candidate or the link to the ultra-extreme political blog from your sworn enemies. Well, it's going to happen more and more as we go through this election year. I'm going to try to convince you to break the cycle and not post about politics on social media. This is especially true when you are on platforms where you connect with people from the professional parts of your life. That … [Read more...]
Social Selling is Here to Stay: Here are 7 Ways to Make LinkedIn Work for You Today
Updated December 2018 I often think about the sales meeting when a sales manager first suggested using the telephone to sell. I'm sure there were a bunch of reactions to the thought: One person probably yelled out that you have to talk to prospects face-to-face if you want to have success and the phone would never work in sales. A few people in the back of the room probably whispered to each other about how confusing phones were. And still another person probably stopped paying attention because they thought, "Well, none of my customers have telephones." I'm sure that there was a bunch of resistance and confusion. And then … [Read more...]
How to Avoid Being an Obnoxious Jerk on LinkedIn
Updated December 2018 LinkedIn has a problem. Or rather, it has a branding issue. You see, before online social networking came around, there was just regular old networking. You had to go out and meet people and have conversations with them. A lot of people hated networking. One of the main reasons: the obnoxious attendees that seemed to populate every networking breakfast and conference cocktail reception. In fact, one of the first Chamber of Commerce meetings I ever went to came complete with "Bill", a life insurance salesman who seemed to embody every negative stereotype possible, from the overly aggressive business card … [Read more...]
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