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Engagement is key when practicing Social Etiquette!

As we attempt to start off the New Year on the right foot, engagement is the key element on whether you will live or die in this new social world. If you don't socialize, they won't know who you are! Get out there and mingle.

In this blog post I will give you 5 Ways to be loved in the social stratosphere, and 5 Ways to be hated when posting content. I have learned them all first hand, and can tell you it has often been at epic fail. If this is you too, there's hope! Get back up and dust off those boot straps. Today is a new day, and there is a new you to reveal. Let's do it!

Ways to be loved:
1. Always respond to real communication. Auto responders are nice, but they aren't doing you any favors. No response is the same as an auto response so get in the habit of talking back.
2. Comment on good ideas, inspiration, and relevant subject matter. You can do this on blogs, twitter, and many other relevant sites. Take some time to do it, because it makes the blogger more welcoming and more welcomed. All the way around it is a win-win.
3. Feedback: Leave it! This is a new game with a lot of rules, and none of them are established. Feedback is key. When you see someone doing something well, praise it. Try to steer clear of generic praising, and be specific on the aspect of engagement that affected you. They will appreciate it and your sincere effort to engage them.
4. Listen. I know, I know, I know. I talk about this all the time, but I cannot stress it enough. There are no real experts here. Only really proficient people who ALWAYS have something else to learn while teaching. Be the LEARNER! It goes a long long way.
5. Echo! You may think that re-tweeting and re-tweeting is generic, inauthentic, and the cheap way out, but it isn't. Share the love! Pick many thought leaders to re-tweet and not just one. Be versatile, be open, be expressive. Re-tweeting is the highest form of compliment in the social arena. Say it loud! Say it over! Say it with BIG sunshine and roses!

Ways to be hated:
1. Only post what others post. If you re-tweet everything someone else says, you are a copy cat. Go find your own stuff.
2. Don't talk back, don't respond to questions, don't acknowledge interest, don't make a sound. This is the first indication that you might not be real, and others will leave you fast. In a way they are right. What are you doing here if you are ignoring the conversation. Ease dropping. No one likes a snooper.
3. Post 10 times the same message, in the same time slot. This is certain to get you a shout. When using auto-posting features, be careful of glitches. They can sometimes leave you on the social floor with your groove on, while the music is off and everyone is watching. Pay ATTENTION to what you post.
4. When researching your data, try to read it. There is nothing more irrelevant than delivering an opposing message because you liked the subject matter. Be careful, watch what you say.
5. When promoting the tools you use, be careful not to promote the tools you don't use. This will certainly get you black listed for being inauthentic. It's OK to be a brand ambassador for something you wish for, just to don't carry on like you already have it. You will be figured out and outed real quick.

Stick by these lessons this new year and you are certain to be on your way to an amazing outcome! I look forward to going there with you, if I can commit to these myself. Either way, my boot straps are dusted off. See you at the finish line.

-GoldCoastLady

OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!!

Turning Up the Volume with Relevant Questions: 5 Questions to Engage the Audience

One of the most important things about reading blogs is the extended power of opinion, especially when it differs from my own.  Most often when I read something that really gets my blood boiling or challenges my thinking, I never forget it. I often even meditate on it for days.  Sometimes it colors the mood for the rest of the week. I don't mean to give it that much power, but sometimes the power it has over me is relevant. It is a teachable moment, a moment of utmost importance in the greater shaping of my character. I like these moments because they make me double down and get a little bit more serious about my personal brand. Often times, I find myself returning to the same place for the next saga in non-conventional thinking outside of the box.
Turning up the volume with challenging and non~traditional content can be a boost to your readers, depending on how well you deliver it. I have come up with five questions that will help you develop your content in a way that will be non-confrontational, and yet very effective in delivering a message that intrigues, satisfies, and compels your readers to think.
These five questions are:

1. What influences the way you view this topic? This will be the ground work for laying a foundation that makes you reader friendly and intelligible.
2. What is single most important thing do you find about this discussion? There are moments around every subject that each of us connect with more strongly than others. What are they? Why are they so powerful? Which buttons were pushed for you and Why?
3. If you don't have enough information, how would you go about determining the best position on this?
4. Where do your values lie on this subject? Values make our work significant. Values make our ideas coherent and effective.  What are yours and where did you put them in relation to your content? Can your readers connect with them, understand them, and determine them from what you have written? If so, how? If not, how come?
5. Do you think your personal beliefs will serve you well over time? This one is a kicker! When delivering thought provoking content that creates your following audience, it is important to determine whether or not your beliefs about the subject will serve you well over time. As a thought leader, if you cannot take a position and and stand on it, you will lose credibility with your reader, and with your brand.  Figure this out, and work from within it.

Discovering hiccups in our thinking can move us further into creativity by broadening our worldview, and point of view. Here are five questions for uncovering your hiccups!
1. Who am I in relationship to this thought. Who is my reader?
2. What am I saying, and is what I am saying align with what I believe?
3. When I say this, am I willing to define myself by it?
4. Is where I stand on this topic today a place I would be comfortable to stand on tomorrow, next week, or five years from now?
5. Why am I writing this? Do I believe it, am I afraid of it, am I changed by it, is it a sensitive spot in my being?

I think content is so powerful! Don't be afraid of it! Use it wisely, use it carefully, and use it courageously and you just might develop a tight little niche that makes a great big splash....