The Social Media School Yard

I’ve often talked to my clients about how Social Media is like a school yard.

I think there are some distinct groups represented:

  • Friends
  • Enemies
  • Sportstars
  • Cool Kids
  • Nerds

Let’s look at them…

Friends:

This is an easy one; there are many users, businesses, organisations and general peeps who are madly giving you value, ‘how to’ tips and information to help you do whatever you are trying to do….awesome!

Enemies:

Hmmm…just like the world there are people who are using the internet to take advantage of you. Be aware and always ask the extra questions to make your self more comfortable…not so great.

Sportstars:

These are the guys at the gym that are lifting weights in the mirror! Lot of eye candy but not much substance. These are the many ’10 weirdest family photos’ type sites. Spend brief amounts of time to  enjoy the view and not too much that you waste valuable working time…ok in short bursts but serious time waste otherwise!

Cool Kids:

There’s so many of them! Here’s a few of my ‘go-to’ cool kids!

The best thing about these cool kids is they are sharing their coolness with all of us!

Nerds:

There are some fab technical sites or resources out there. Here’s a few that I use:

  • Mashable – has so much other than what you might need but great for getting good early advice!
  • Adweek – quite wide offering but use to pick up some great info
  • Google alerts – perfect for getting current info on the run

Have a great day!

Kathy Smail

 

The generosity boomerang

 

Yesterday by Seth Godin

“Here’s conventional wisdom:

Success makes you happy. Happiness permits you to be generous.

In fact, it actually works like this:

Generosity makes you happy. Happy people are more likely to be successful”

I love it! So when you’re feeling overwhelmed by hurdles, try to  think of ways to be generous; here’s a few ways that I like to be generous:

  • Hand a stranger a coin as they are fumbling for parking meter money
  • Hold a door open for a mum with a pram
  • Actually speak to the cashier
  • Understand when your neighbour is making some noise, just a little too early on Sunday morning

Have a great day!

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What does Social Media mean to you?

Social Media can be many things; at times a friend but others an enemy.

Erik Qulaman (author of Socialnomics) has used the following words to describe it. Social Media is…

  • Living
  • Breathing
  • Young
  • Old
  • Frustrating
  • Mysterious
  • Now
  • Powerful
  • Fluid
  • Raw
  • Your Customer
  • Revolutionary

I’d like to add some of my own. I think that Social Media can be…

  • Passionate
  • Unruly
  • Supportive
  • Isolating
  • Creative and/or
  • Overwhelming

But the most telling is that Social Media can be a school yard! There are…

  • Friends
  • Enemies
  • Cool Kids
  • Nerds and
  • Sportstars

The really big one is that there are so many unwritten rules and often you wont know what they are until you bump into them. How rude is that?

It’s a big bold world and it can take us many places!

What do you think?

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Loving your Team

Your team is the biggest asset that you have:

  • Support them
  • Trade what they would like for what you need done
  • Just love ’em (and they will be an even bigger asset)

Enjoy!

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3 steps to a new year review

A review is not a stationery point in time, rather it should be a regular, structured check of recent times, current events and future plans.

Ask yourself…

  1. What’s happened? – Use the last year, six months, season or whatever period since you’ve reviewed.
  2. What’s going on now? – Look at your products, your offer, the market, your competitors…be blunt!!
  3. What’s going to happen next? – you don’t have to have a crystal ball but you need to create a plan of what you’re planning and how you’re going to get there.

Let me know how you go…

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Recruiting – Prep for Interviews

Last time I talked about Tackling Resumes and some tips for getting a ‘shortlist’. This time I want to talk about preparation for interviews.

Preparation for effective interviews is crucial to an effective result. Here’s my top three tips for Interview Preparation:

  • Compile a list of questions to ask each applicant – this ensures that you can compare each applicant easily (Trust me, you wont remember after a few interviews in a row or if there is some time between them)
  • Write out the questions on a sheet of paper with room for your answers and print several copies – give a copy to each interviewer
  • Compare answers with the other interviewers using these sheets

Next time we’ll talk about what types of questions to ask.

Enjoy!

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Recruiting – Interview Questions

Asking questions in interviews without a plan is tantamount to employing an applicant by shuffling resumes and picking one!

As I’ve said before, the interview is the golden opportunity to get to know potential employees but what you ask them and how you run the interview can give you ‘gold’ or ‘nuthin’.

This time we’ll look at what types of questions to ask.

Here are my top tips for questions:

  • Ask for a self-introduction from the applicant
  • Ask for examples of enjoyable work experiences
  • Ask for examples of work experiences that were less enjoyable
  • Ask for examples of how they handled particular situations and drill down to determine the difference between rote answers and the true experience

Remember, get help if you need it.

Enjoy!

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