Carol Stephen, Author at

See Why Work-Life Balance is the Unicorn of the Working World

April 20, 2017 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

See Why Work-Life Balance is the Unicorn of the Working World

Work-life balance is one of those phrases that people with way too much time on their hands talk about. Usually they have their own yoga studios, grow all their own food, and can afford really swell vacations on Martha’s Vineyard. And that’s not even a generalization!

When Is There Ever Balance?

Never, that’s when! This is the week of Easter and tax returns. Many people with businesses are filing at the last minute instead of being involved in an Easter egg hunt. Unless, of course, you call looking for business deductions in a huge pile of receipts an Easter egg hunt. Then, yes, there’s an Easter egg hunt.

We Strive for Balance

We dream of balance during those nights when we don’t sleep enough because we were up late worrying about whether everything for that upcoming conference got finished. Was there one last person to call, or a piece of paper that didn’t make it to the right place?

Finding Time

By the way, if you need to find a little more time, here’s my article on Social Media: Time Management for Busy Entrepreneurs that you might like. Finding a bit of time here and there in your day can be cause for celebration!

Photo by todd.vision

Vacations Are for Sissies

If you’re involved in a startup, do you ever really go on vacation? Or is your idea of time off working a couple of hours less on the days you’re strolling on the beach? And speaking of strolling on the beach, here’s a brilliant idea from Forbes: Want a Brilliant Idea for a Startup? Go on Vacation!

“…ideas emerge when someone frees their mind up to wander – this often doesn’t happen in day to day life,”
~ Jessica Livingston, founding partner Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s best known incubator

You Can Sleep When You’re Dead

Who among us has not heard this pithy bumpersticker-sized statement? Startups have a reputation for fueling sleep deprivation. Startups have also begun to fuel new ideas about sleep, as outlined in this nifty article: How Tech Startups Are Waking Up the Sleep Industry. In fact, new startup Cereve has a Sleep System to cool the forehead and soothe “a racing mind.” Something many in the startup world suffer from.

Is Balance Possible?

How have you created balance? While I’d love to believe in unicorns, maybe we are better off believing they don’t exist. Or are we all resigned to being comfortable being uncomfortable? Tell me in the comments! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: balance, Business, Startup, Startups, work life balance

What Happened to Quality versus Quantity on Social Media?

April 13, 2017 By Carol Stephen 8 Comments

What Happened to Quality versus Quantity on Social Media?

Whatever happened to good quality social media posts? In the beginning, there was the Facebook, and it was good. Reach was fantastic, everything was free, and everything got good reach. You could post a picture of an old rotten lemon, and your friends would make a million comments. “Great rotten lemon!” they’d say. “Where’d you get that lemon? I want one!” “That lemon reminds me of the ones my grandma used to grow!” And so on. An out-of-focus picture of a dirty sock might do even better.

Photo by Skley

The Good Old Days

Those were the good ol’ days. The Internet seemed smaller and quieter. Now lemons have to be ripe, and if you make lemonade, you even have to know how the best recipe for ice cubes. P.S. read the comments, but then come back here!

Suddenly, everything changed.

Suddenly, Everything Changed

Now that out-of-focus dirty sock picture and the image of the rotten lemon don’t get such great reach, do they? Nope! Suddenly, socks have to be woven using gold thread, and the gold has to be mined in ecologically and socially responsible ways. And the picture even has to be in focus! What is this world coming to?

Et Tu, Branding?

Not only does the sock have to be gold, but it has to matter to your audience now, too. Holy target audience, Batman! The person in the center of that elusive bulls eye has to care about golden socks! By the way, here’s an article about rebranding for startups that you might like.

Is Quality An Issue?

When someone wants you, as a social media manager, to do something that’s clearly unrealistic (like posting a picture that will bring in 10,000 followers in one week), you might say “Is quality an issue? Do these followers need to be real people?” Because if they don’t, then you could just plunk down $20!

But heck, now that quality does seem to be an issue, everything has to be on point! That is, you can’t just post more. The stuff you post needs to be even better. So if you’re on Twitter, for example, then you must focus on awesome quality if you want to get the best followers.

Better Images

Yes, you’re going to need better images that actually connect back to your text and pictures that are in focus. Also, the text has to make sense and be grammatically correct. And you can no longer steal images! Sheesh!

Lemons & Glitter

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: quality, quantity, Social Media

For the Best Success, Pretend You’re Offline When You Network

April 6, 2017 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

For the Best Success, Pretend You’re Offline When You Network

If you’ve spent any time at all online, you realize that spam comes in all shapes and sizes. You can follow someone on Instagram, not knowing that they’ll follow, then immediately unfollow you. It’s kinda like the early days on Twitter.

Pushy Marketing

There are still articles about how not to network online (such as this one: Entrepreneurs, Beware This Terrible Way of Networking on Social Media) that tell people not to shove their product down someone’s throat the first time they meet them online. You wouldn’t do that offline, so why do it online?

Don’t Exceed the Boundaries of the Relationship

One thing I really like about the “Entrepreneurs, Beware… article is about not asking for something that exceeds the boundaries of your relationship. It’s not realistic and won’t go over well.

Timing is Everything

Some marketers still think it’s a good idea to send direct messages the millisecond someone follows them on Twitter saying “let’s connect on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube!” It’s not terrible to ask this, but the instance you’ve met someone? It’s a matter of timing. Same thing has started happening on Instagram, though not as often.

What Does Work, Then?

If broadcasting messages to follow, follow, follow, don’t work, what does?

Generosity Works

So just as in real life, be generous first. Share other people’s content. Comment on their posts. Say something nice, or shut up, as my parents would say. It’s even possible that you’d want to use a little gratitude in your marketing. Here are my posts about Gratitude Marketing and How to Develop Your Gratitude Muscle, in case you missed them.

Small Talk

Small talk goes a long way towards establishing the first steps of trust. All those little conversations that begin with How are you? and How’s the weather? can lead to great things. But they start small.

Act As If

Do you go to the bank before you have a bank account and ask them for money? No. Would you walk up to someone in real life and ask for a favor before you knew them? No. Would you call them by their childhood nickname before really knowing them? Again: No. If you act as if you just met them in real life, you have a much better chance at being cordial and then later marketing to them.

Photo by Bautz Adventure

It’s a Long Game

Being known and trusted doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and energy and attention. But if you pretend that the person you’re chatting with online is really right in front of you, maybe you’ll behave a bit differently. I know I would (and do). Here’s a wonderful post about why content marketing is the long game from Copyblogger.

Come Say Hello

I promise you, I’ll say hello back! Thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Business, failure, network, Networking, offline versus online, success, what not to do

How to Develop and Unlock a Tremendous Gratitude Muscle

March 30, 2017 By Carol Stephen 10 Comments

How to Develop and Unlock a Tremendous Gratitude Muscle

People have written countless blog posts, articles, and books about gratitude marketing, being thankful for those who mentor us, and loving those around us. But is gratitude more than something we think about on Thanksgiving Day? Hopefully, yes.

Start with Ten

If you’ve never tried gratitude before, start with writing down ten things that you’re grateful for. Go on. I’ll wait. Then write another sentence about each of those first ten things. For example, let’s say you’re grateful to your mom. Well, of course you are. She gave birth to you. What other things did she do for you? She probably protected you. Maybe she made you cookies or helped you with homework. If you have trouble with this exercise, here are 100 Things to Be Thankful For, from Real Simple magazine.

Strengthen the Muscle Daily

Here’s a great article: The 7 Habits of Grateful People. I like that one about mindfully using social media. And being grateful every single day, even for the little things. Do you appreciate your pillow? Having clean air and water (actually pretty big things when you think about it). How about your pet hedgehog?

List Some Unexpected Things

You may not even realize what you have until you look around and see what someone else doesn’t have. How about that roof over your head? How about your health? What about being able to breathe? Having your vision? You get the idea!

Gratitude Journal

A gratitude journal lets you track, and, as you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), you may think of even more things to be grateful for. You might want to add pictures. You might want to set up a secret board in Pinterest to keep a visual reminder of what makes you grateful. Here’s a Pinterest primer if you need to get started!

Photo by romana klee

Letters of Gratitude

Reconnecting with old friends through letters is a perfect way to flex that gratitude muscle. How many times do we spend an hour just telling someone how wonderful, inspiring, and intelligent someone is? And sending a handwritten note is becoming more and more rare, according to this article from Harvard Business Review: Handwritten Notes Are a Rare Commodity: They’re Also More Important Than Ever. If you’re thinking of picking up your pen again, after a hiatus, handwritten letters are also a very good way to reconnect with yourself, besides creating a deeper connection with long-lost friends.

What Are You Grateful For?

When you get more specific with what you’re grateful for, you might be able to think of even more things. For instance, not just your car, but that your car gets 45 miles per gallon and does 75 mph downhill with a tailwind. (Well, that’s my car!) Are you one of the 25% of people who name their car? I’m surprised that the number is so low.

Thank You!

To the readers of my blog, I thank you. I appreciate the comments and your taking the time to read my words.

Photo by CasparGirl

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: gratitude, Gratitude Marketing, letters of gratitude, thankful, thankfulness

How to Create a Quick and Easy Slide Show on Pinterest

March 23, 2017 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

How to Create a Quick and Easy Slide Show on Pinterest

To tell the truth, I’m only writing this post because it took me so gosh darn long to figure out how to do this recently, and I deal with Pinterest all the time. But even Pinterest’s own Frequently Asked Questions didn’t really explain how to create a slide show. And they call it a showcase, too–not a slide show. No, that would be too “’70s,” apparently.

Note: You must have a business account to take advantage of the showcase feature.

Pinterest’s Showcase Lets Businesses Rotate Five Boards

Anyway, it is a slide show, and you can make a pretty good one in about five minutes! Pretty cool, huh? Mine (a screenshot) is above.

Step One. Click the big plus mark that says “Set up a Showcase.”

Note: If there is no big plus mark, either your business account isn’t set up correctly, or there’s a bug in your Pinterest. One of Pinterest’s experts helped me find it, since the showcase edit page appeared to have been missing temporarily. First, log into your Pinterest account, then access it at https://www.pinterest.com/showcase/settings/.

Step Two. Choose your five best boards for the showcase. You may want boards with at least eight pins on them.

Step Three. Edit the boards some good pins appear on each of the boards. Choose a good cover for each board. Make sure to save after each edit.

Step Four. Have yourself some of the best DIY Lemon Iced Tea! You may want to reduce the sugar if you’re on Whole30, like I am, though. :D

That’s it!

Did I leave anything out?

Tell me if you set up your slideshow! Leave me a comment below and I’ll go take a look! Thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: DIY, how to build a showcase on Pinterest, iced tea, Pinterest, slide show

How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

March 16, 2017 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

How Much Confidential Info Do You Share On Social Media?

Recently, I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad thing happen. When you work in the social media realm, people expect certain things. They expect you to share. And yet, although some of my best friends knew about the terrible event, I did not share it widely.

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Being “friends” on Facebook does not mean that someone is truly friends, despite the saying that a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met. If you are squinting at someone’s image, wondering where you met them (or if you met them at all), maybe it’s time to cut them loose if Facebook is your “safe place.”

Being a Private Person

Are you a private person? Now, I’m not necessarily talking about being an introvert because that’s different. But are you private in your communications online? Would you be ready to share something and then have a relative stranger come up and say “oh, hey, I heard that you fell off the roof while on vacation!” If not, then you might consider not sharing that tidbit, although it’s easy to forget that 100s or 1000s of people could potentially see what you post.

How to Decide What to Share

Here are a few questions you could ask yourself before you share something:

Will this hurt me later?
Will this expose a friend?
Will sharing this get back to the person I’m sharing about?
Could this have any negative impacts?

And here are 9 things you should never share on Facebook, from Post Planner.

Where to Share

Certain people have places that are more private than others on social media. For instance, I consider Twitter to be the most filled with strangers of all of my platforms. Yours could be Facebook. Or LinkedIn. At any rate, there’s a hierarchy of places for all of us. I might share something in a closed Facebook group before I share it on Twitter.

Some would say that you could share more safely on Twitter, since it doesn’t ask you to share your own or your friends’ information as much. See Facebook vs Twittter: Privacy Issues.

Photo by ijclark

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Social Sharing

There are many good aspects of sharing. For instance, you could share a picture that you want all your friends to see. It beats emailing it to everyone! And you can create an album on Facebook or a secret board on Pinterest for those images. By the way, here are Ten Ways to Be Social, from the archive.

Photo by ZZ Bottom

The Bad and the Ugly

There are also many, many ways to fail on social media. For instance:

Photo by Dvortygirl

What’s Something You’d Never Share?

I promise not to tell! Leave me a comment. Thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: confidential, Facebook, LinkedIn Pinterest, oversharing, privacy, sharing, Social Media, Twitter

How to Avoid the Five Stages of Social Media Burnout

March 9, 2017 By Carol Stephen 8 Comments

How to Avoid the Five Stages of Social Media Burnout

We’ve all been there: that state of burnout, where every step feels like you’re trying to walk in quicksand, and each new attempt at writing feels like pulling teeth, that feeling that being run over by a taxicab might be more fun. And I’m not even exaggerating!

Identify that You’re in Burnout

Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identified five stages of death and dying, which can be applied to many other issues, including burnout. Stick with me here. The five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. If you’re in that first stage, perhaps it’s your friends who are saying that you must go on vacation, get out of Dodge, take a break, or (gasp!) see a counselor.

To avoid being in this stage of burnout, identify it quickly. Listen to your friends and move on!

Separate, but Equal

Being in a social media rut, isn’t exactly the same as the death and dying model, but it’s close. So finally, your friends convince you that you’re in a rut. And you accept it. What then?

Anger Follows

Anger is like a giant Band-Aid^® over lots of different emotions. Pull back the Band-Aid^® and you’ll see the real emotion hiding underneath. Anger is our go-to, our automatic. However, it’s not very useful, and not sustainable for very long. Who can stay angry for hours or days at a time? But at least if you’re angry, there’s some sense of movement.

To get past the anger, something physically challenging is in order, such as working out with a punching bag or going for a long hike until your legs burn. By the way, here are the 11 Ways that Being Outdoors Can Boost Your Creativity.

Bargaining

Just who would you bargain with if you’re in a rut? Probably yourself. Do you hear yourself saying (to yourself) any of the following?

“Oh, I’ll just write this one article, and then I’ll move on to something else.”
“If this one post goes viral, I’ll do another one.”
“Please let someone “like” this post.”

Not that productive, really.

If you’re already talking to yourself, maybe make it more productive. “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it–people like me!” comes to mind. With apologies to Stuart Smalley–who is so doggone smart!

Depression

Yes, you are in a rut. Feel sad, if you must. In fact, you might want to wallow in it even more by looking at depressing quotes (these are from GoodReads). Depression is where the bounce is. That is, once you get there, the only way to go is up. So have a good cry, but make it fast! Because you’re almost through it, really.

Photo by Alex Holyoake

Acceptance and Rebranding

Could rebranding be far off? Or some kind of reinvention, at the very least. Here’s an article about rebranding your startup that could help you get started. It’s important to get your entire team together to think through the elements of your brand that need to be retooled.

Photo by Wolfgang Staudt

How Do You Avoid Social Media Burnout?

Or maybe you’re there now. Are you? Leave me a comment! I’d love to talk to you. Really, I would.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: five stages of social media burnout, focus, rebranding, social media rut, strategy

How to Turbocharge Your Blog Post Production: What You Need to Know

March 2, 2017 By Carol Stephen 12 Comments

How to Turbocharge Your Blog Post Production: What You Need to Know

Every startup has heard that they need to update their website in order to stay relevant to Google and the little bots that crawl around on the interwebs. But how many of them actually start blogging? Very few, unless forced! Don’t ask me how I know–I just do.

You Can Do it!

So, how do you get started? Here’s a pep talk: How to Create a Wonderful Blog Post in An Hour. Know that you can create something in an hour. That’s the most important thing to keep in mind.

Make an Editorial Calendar

There are many ways to create an editorial calendar, and I’d opt for the simplest if you’re just starting out. A spreadsheet on Google, shared by the entire team would probably do it. Here are some examples:

If You Can Speak, You Can Write

My blogging buddy, Bridget Willard, taught me that and I’ve never forgot it. If you don’t think you can write, start by speaking. You can get help with cleanup (that is, editing) later. Don’t worry too much about that for now.

Break it Down

As my friend Randy Clark explains, writing and editing use different sides of the brain. So do your writing first, then your editing. Don’t edit as you go for a faster experience. You might want to get some great examples of blogging at Randy’s blog about car wraps. And Randy’s book, How to Stay Ahead of Your Business Blog Forever, on Amazon is a bargain!

Research First

Research your topic before you dive into the writing. Or, if you’ve already started writing, create space where the researched topics need to go. For example, you could say something like add backup link here, and then keep writing. Since researching and editing use a different part of the brain, you can keep your creative juices flowing if you write this way.

Make an Outline

What do you want your post to be about? Create an outline before you start. Write a header first (here’s a post on How to Write a Headline That People Will Want to Click), then at least five paragraph headings. End with your call to action. Now go back and fill in each of those five paragraphs with two or three sentences.

What Ifs

Secret confession time: I hire both an editor (when I need one), and a full-time graphics person. I’ve been writing for years. Give yourself a break and hire it out if you don’t want to do it. Focus on your strengths!

What if you have bad spelling and/or grammar? Hire an editor!
What if you aren’t artistic? Hire a graphic designer!
What if you are a terrible writer? Hire a writer!

Blogging Buddies

As mentioned earlier, a blogging buddy is a gift you can give yourself. Find someone else to inspire you. The blogging buddies idea can catapult your writing! Brainstorm ideas, and talk to your buddy when you’re stuck!

The Reward System

Like anything else, it’s good to give you or your team member a reward at the end of a successful session. Recognition is also an excellent idea, as outlined in an article from the Next Web: Rewards and Recognition: Two Highly Effective Ways to Reward Your Employees.

Photo by beije

Start the Next Post Early

My best blog articles have been sitting on the back burner for days. I like to write in 15-minute chunks, sometimes once a day, sometimes twice. If you start your next post, it can simmer for awhile. Even if you think you’re not thinking about it, you really are! And don’t procrastinate, since that way madness lies!

How Do You Speed Up Your Writing?

Or do you speed it up at all? Maybe you’re more the type of writer who grinds out words one at a time. Let me know in the comments! And thank you!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Blog, blogging, edit, editing, Editorial Calendar, outline, Randy Clark, research, Startup, writing

Ten Simple Ways to Choose the Best Social Media Platform

February 23, 2017 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

Ten Simple Ways to Choose the Best Social Media Platform

There are so many social networks these days. If you’re new to social media, or you’re a startup and you’ve been busy with other things, how do you choose the best one? Here are some ways you can get through the maze of choices you have.

Pick from the Most Popular Networks

Don’t go with that social network your cousin started as his senior class project. There are only 14 users, and besides, there are still a boatload of bugs! Choose from the most popular ones:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube
Pinterest

Where’s the Competition?

Check with other brands like yours. If you sell makeup, you probably want to be on Instagram and Pinterest because they are good for visual brands. Additionally, Pinterest’s audience is largely female. If you sell real estate, Facebook and Twitter might be better choices for you. Again, see what your competition is doing.

Is Your Demographic There?

Please don’t say your product or service is “for everyone.” The narrower your audience, the easier it is to choose a social media platform. If you don’t know, Pew has a terrific explanation of the Demographics of Social Media Users. For instance, many CEOs are on LinkedIn, but not on Twitter. So if CEOs are part of your demographic, you’d be better off on LinkedIn.

Choose the One You Like Best

You’re more likely to post frequently if you choose the place you like to go. I’m a firm believer that if you really learn to use a platform, you can get tons of traffic there. My brother, who had a plumbing service, had tremendous success with Yelp, for instance. Since it’s locally based, having good reviews on Yelp can be valuable to a local business like a plumber or electrician.

Photo by Bob Dass

Pay Attention to Where the Action is!

Even if you really like the platform, if people post and run, that’s probably not a good option for you. For instance, Google Plus doesn’t seem to attract and hold people’s attention for very long. If you must be on a platform without much action, monitor your efforts and see if it’s worthwhile. Use your analytics to check out what’s working and what’s not. Here are analytics for Twitter, in case you’re wondering.

Realize That Social Media Isn’t Free

Sure, signing up is free. But will you be available to post? How much time can you give it? If you can’t give it the time it deserves, hire someone to do it for you! Ahem. I might know of someone! And should you do your own social media? I don’t think so!

Get a Reality Check

Hire a social media manager for an hour or two to brainstorm your proposed choice. That might be the boost you need to get started. And you’ll feel that you’re on the right track if you do. Otherwise, have someone take it over for you, after you’ve worked out a strategy together. By the way, here are ten worst ways to hire a social media manager!

Photo by Moyan_Brenn

Check That Your Name is Available

You want a similar name across platforms. You may need to change the name you use slightly across platforms, but make sure that you use a recognizable logo on each.

Set up Social Accounts

Even if you don’t use an account, grab the name so you can use it later. I call that squatting. Later, when you’re ready to start using it, it’ll already be there for you. If you don’t grab the account, someone else might nab it!

Photo by markbwavy

Be Successful with One First

You don’t have to start all your social media platforms at the same time! Get one ball in the air before you start juggling with three. And you might not need or want a second ball, depending upon your success! Startups in particular can do a staggered start.

How Did You Choose to Get Started?

Leave me a comment and let me know! Thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Social Media, Startup

The Best Way to Quick Success? Follow the Fun!

February 16, 2017 By Carol Stephen 8 Comments

The Best Way to Quick Success? Follow the Fun!

We’ve all had the experience of being at an amusement park, wondering which ride to try next. The carousel? No–that’s for little kids. The Zipper? No, that one always smells funky (and when you see it, you know why!). Ah, but there’s always one ride where people are screaming and laughing their heads off! That’s the one you want!

Photo by Ed Bierman

The Roller Coaster

My favorite ride always seems to be the roller coaster. Even though it’s also the scariest ride and is over fast, it is, hands down, the most fun. The Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz Boardwalk is a wooden one, and the creakiness of the ride makes it scarier, for some reason. You feel like you could be thrown off at any moment and attacked by seagulls.

Photo by mrs. scrapygraphics

Post with Fun in Mind

My brother always went for the fun in life. He ran after it, and created fun wherever he went. That’s how you should think about posting on social media, too. Make it fun for everyone. People will want to stay, talk, and share if you make it fun.

Photo by Ed Bierman

Hashtags Make it Fun

One reason, in my humble opinion, that Instagram has become so popular is not only because it’s simple, but because it’s fun. Part of that fun is the way that people use hashtags. By the way, if you haven’t read about how to engage on Instagram, you might want to check it out. You can use hashtags in other places such as Twitter, too, but the over-the-top way people use them on Instagram? Priceless!

Photo by Photographing Travis

Memes and .Gifs

Yes, as a business you’re not “supposed to” use memes and gifs. But if they get people talking, why not? If you’re on Twitter, you can easily attach a .gif and send it to a bunch of friends. Again, it’s simply and silly. These days, silly has become an endangered species on social media.

Post with no Outcome

Sometimes it’s ok to post without expecting anything. You might want to share a favorite Netflix show, for instance. By the way, have you seen the Netflix original series Abstract: The Art of Design? Really fantastic! But I digress. Sure, you’re always supposed to have a Call to Action (“CTA”), but maybe your goal is just to connect with people.

Photo by dalecruse

What Tricks Do You Have for Making Your Posts More Fun?

Let me know in the comments! And thank you.

Photo by Photographing Travis

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: fun, Social Media, success

When Is There Ever Balance?

We Strive for Balance

Finding Time

Vacations Are for Sissies

You Can Sleep When You’re Dead

Is Balance Possible?

The Good Old Days

Suddenly, Everything Changed

Et Tu, Branding?

Is Quality An Issue?

Better Images

Pushy Marketing

Don’t Exceed the Boundaries of the Relationship

Timing is Everything

What Does Work, Then?

Generosity Works

Small Talk

Act As If

It’s a Long Game

Come Say Hello

Start with Ten

Strengthen the Muscle Daily

List Some Unexpected Things

Gratitude Journal

Letters of Gratitude

What Are You Grateful For?

Thank You!

Did I leave anything out?

Connection Does Not Always Equal Friendship

Being a Private Person

How to Decide What to Share

Where to Share

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Social Sharing

The Bad and the Ugly

What’s Something You’d Never Share?

How to Avoid the Five Stages of Social Media Burnout

Identify that You’re in Burnout

Separate, but Equal

Anger Follows

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance and Rebranding

How Do You Avoid Social Media Burnout?

You Can Do it!

Make an Editorial Calendar

If You Can Speak, You Can Write

Break it Down

Research First

Make an Outline

What Ifs

Blogging Buddies

The Reward System

Start the Next Post Early

How Do You Speed Up Your Writing?

Pick from the Most Popular Networks

Where’s the Competition?

Is Your Demographic There?

Choose the One You Like Best

Pay Attention to Where the Action is!

Realize That Social Media Isn’t Free

Get a Reality Check

Check That Your Name is Available

Set up Social Accounts

Be Successful with One First

How Did You Choose to Get Started?

The Roller Coaster

Post with Fun in Mind

Hashtags Make it Fun

Memes and .Gifs

Post with no Outcome

What Tricks Do You Have for Making Your Posts More Fun?

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