The Educated Emotion

Last week, I had professional photos taken. This was after several situations came up in the past few months where I was asked to provide a professional, high resolution photo of myself to go with my bio. I found that I had plenty of selfies, goofy, and off guard pictures, but none that represented me professionally. After reaching out to my young, retired photographer friend and writing buddy I had a photo shoot. It was much less painful than expected and she sent me sixteen decent photos among three backgrounds to choose from. I narrowed the poses down to the top six choices from myself and family, but still wasn't sure which picture would encapsulate my personality and professionalism at the same time. So, I took my photos to Facebook to poll friends, family, and followers. Top four photos chosen in Facebook poll. Photography Credit: Bethany Neal. I labeled each of the six poses A through F and asked people to choose one of the options. What happened next was completely u...

A social breakup is when social media followers decide, for whatever reason, they are tired of following you or your brand. Top reasons for social breakups include too much length of time between posts, hyper posting (posting too many times for the social media tool you are using), inconsistency, too much selling, or sometimes the honeymoon period (giveaways, initial excitement, or novelty) is just over. Do All Blogs Go to Heaven? A couple years ago I started to see a decline in my blog reader engagement .  Unlike the 95% of bloggers who give up on their blogs, I knew what to do.  After all, I have been blogging for almost 15 years.  I simply wasn't doing it. I was spreading myself too thin, disorganized, and to be honest...a bit bored/burnt out. Here we are two years later. With the new addition to the family (shown below), I have less time than ever. So, why in the heck would I decide to rebirth a blog? Good question. There is a lot of research on ...

#TipTuesday #TechTuesdays You may have noticed that the number of followers have decreased for your Facebook Brand Page. That is because after March 12, Facebook began purging all inactive accounts. Likes that you obtained through paid advertising or from years ago may be connected to inactive accounts. It makes sense. But, it's also discouraging if you are trying to build your followers. Before you despair, remember that everyone is basically in the same boat. Getting your numbers back up may not happen as quickly as it has in the past, but it is still simple as 1 2 3. #lesgosocial 1. Invite friends. It has probably been a few months or years since you have invited people from your personal friend list to Like your Facebook page. 2. If you are responsible for social media for your business or organization, adjust your success metrics to match what Facebook insights are telling you..beyond the Likes. 3. Love the one you're with: Encourage engagement with existing ...

#TechTuesdays #TuesdayTip Free Ninety Nine! Doesn't it sound good? Oh boy! Two FREE roundtrip airline tickets to wherever you wish. All just because you just happened to be on Facebook at the right time, connected to the right friend. Have you seen an ad or been tagged on an ad like the one below on your Facebook timeline? I hate to break this to you...but it is a scam. Perhaps you received something like this in your email inbox? Examples:   [Collected via e-mail, November 2011] Receive 2 FREE Southwest Airline Tickets Today! [URL elided] For a limited time you can receive  2 FREE  Southwest Airline Tickets good for any travel within the USA! Don't wait, this is a one time free gift offered just in time for the Holidays! [Collected via e-mail, October 2012] Planning for the holidays? Lucky you! Southwest Airlines is sending out thousands of complimentary flight vouchers to current Facebook users! To get yours, fly by [URL elided] to foll...

A couple weeks ago, I posted a podcast of an interview performed by Christy Haussler: The Educated Emotion: Les Go Social Podcast Interview - The Secret Ingre... : Photo By Dwight Burdette [ CC-BY-3.0 ],  via Wikimedia Commons I was recently interviewed by Christy Haussler, of Brick and Mortar Rep... I received a few reader responses, both on the blog and on other social media. One, in particular, was about ways to begin utilizing Facebook as a professional networking tool - even before you create a page. View the reader response, and my reply, below: henry brown 1 week ago   -   Shared publicly Very great podcast and information, it was very helpful with some insight that I needed. Tell me.... What are some of the best ways, that you think of course. How Facebook can be used as a "Social Utility "?   1  ·  Reply Leslie McGraw 1 week ago Hi Henry. T...

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN APRIL, 2012. REST IN PEACE... Three Lessons on Social Media From Dick Clark   Three Farmers and Two Geese Dick Clark spent over 60 years in numerous memorable roles from radio to music to television. One of the roles that he is less noted for is entrepreneur; some of Clark's biggest marks on the industry were actually ones he created. Dick Clark was always the 'cool kid'. He wanted to be a part of what was new. In fact, he said that he wished he had been a little younger when the Internet takeover began.  In an 1999 interview  with James Moll, Clark was asked "How do you describe the start to your professional career?" Clark responded with a story of his first job in the mailroom of a radio station. In the mornings he would sit with disc jockey, Danny Fusco and give the weather forecast for the rural radio network, assuming that no one was listening. But when Clark started performing as if someone was listening, t...

I wish you all a wonderful day, filled with gratitude, joy, and Thanksgiving. When I think about everything good and positive in my life, I can't help but to think of all the good  and positive people that I have come in contact with this year. I have been the beneficiary of many wise people, great clients, and advisers, and that is very humbling. There really is noone that does it alone. As we get ready for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday - here are 3 quick quotes and reminders from entrepreneurs, celebs and business owners that all businesses should remember to help us stay in the spirit of Thanksgiving: 1.  "Customers don't need us, we need them,"  Fred Meijer.  (via Facebook) 2. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to help people in need. You're all apart of it, and I'm so grateful. Happy Thanksgiving." ~— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) November 22, 2012  (via Twitter) 3.  "Thanksgiving is a mi...

It's too scripted to be a movie: a comfy cozy Sweetest Day weekend where your loved ones whisk you away from the to-do list your crazy/creative, entrepreneur-self never seems to complete.  Drizzly Seattle-Movie-like rain softens your hair, skin, and heart until the sexy mysterious moon writers kill readers with every day comes into view. You lay down Sunday feeling comforted and, although you know your weekend of folly might bite you in the butt - you rest peacefully knowing that you will be ready for whatever.  Giving a total 100% all week is the plan. (insert scary music) Then, Monday arrives! You oversleep (because you slept in the last two days), your morning mile walk feels like a triathlon (because you skipped a couple few workouts to make time for chocolate) and the cute rain is now annoying with hard, cold smacks across the face, appointments are late (because they are in the same boat), breakfast prep takes longer than usual (because you went to sleep with dishes...

By Filipinayzd (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Hiring a third party for services for a small to mid-size business can be tricky and time-consuming. Payroll services are a good example of this. Even with an office manager or human resources point of contact on staff, there are a lot of intricacies surrounding with holdings, filings, and government regulations like the Defense of Marriage Act, Immigration and Health Care Reform that should probably be left to the professionals. The first step in hiring third party services is knowing what you will remain responsible for in the eyes of the law when you outsource. Next, it is time to shop around. Here are a couple things to consider when shopping around: What Do the Basic Fees Cover...Exactly? Many providers offer a "free" trial for a few months. Unfortunately, these often end up costing a lot ...

As seen in the picture, shown left, I initially began this "short" blog post before going to bed over an hour ago...BEFORE my internet browser decided to go to sleep on me. Fortunately, I have developed tough skin (online). This past weekend I attended a writer's workshop on how to start and operate a blog efficiently. The presenter offered tips on how to start a blog following and increase blog traffic. Somewhere during the abbreviated Twitter tutorial, one of the students said that this (social networking) was like an entirely different world with its own language. It is surprising to me how many people subscribe to this way of thinking - that interacting online is totally different from interacting offline. After surviving the shift from Web 1.0 to 2.0, paying my respects to Myspace, and becoming flexible enough to almost keep up with Facebook changes, I have been through more emotions than the Hallmark Channel. No matter how much expertise you may have intera...