February 23, 2012

Social Media: Businesses that Listen aka @WashingtonSQ

I love it when a business is listening.

While taking my daughter to the mall today to shop for her birthday, I tweeted this:

Of course, I was half joking. I think as some of us get a little older, we dread the mall. A visit to the mall with your teenager can always be a crash course on all that exists that makes one feel old, but oddly hip.

What was fun about this late afternoon tweet is what happened next…

What makes this even more impressive is with how little this actually happens with businesses “using” social media. In this, notice I don’t even officially mention or tag the mall with their handle in my original tweet and yet still.. they were listening.

With this, I want to say great job to @WashingtonSQ for using social media two ways…

1. Broadcasting

2. Listening

From there, they then add responding to the list.

My goodness, there are so many great tools out there for anyone to be listening or even be alerted to real time chat occurring online around one’s brand that I am surprised I have only had so few experiences like this.

In this case, the response from my random and spontaneous tweets made me to feel as a consumer… special, noticed, and not just a transaction.

If I were a business with a presence in this mall, I would be beyond thrilled that the mall is using social media this way.

If I were a business with a presence in this mall, I would take note and follow suit. (I say this because once upon a time, 15 years ago.. I was one of those businesses.)

If I were a business, I would start doing three things with my social media usage:

  1. Engaging
  2. Listening
  3. Responding

Instead of just:

  • Broadcasting

Because in the end, it is how well you do the 1,2,3 that will buy you the capital to be heard.

But, in this case, once again… social media is not just being used to reach people outside of the mall, it is being used to actively listen in on in store chatter and perhaps look for opportunities to enhance the experience.

Now, some might say this is creepy or that they don’t want to be bothered. But, I would say that if you are thinking that, consider this:

  1. Reconsider why and how you are using social media in the first place
  2. The consumer invited the engagement first by what they tweeted, and the entity took them up on it

For me, I love this and salute @WashingtonSQ for how they are using Twitter to make the consumer feel special.

Posted by on February 23, 2012 in Business, Life, social media and tagged , , .

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February 6, 2012

Super Bowl XLVI, Missed passes, and Social Media Missed opportunities

Like a crucial missed pass opportunity in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, sadly many companies with social media presence faired no better by failing to catch passes they were made to catch during yesterdays big game.

Leading up to the game, whether you loved the teams or not, a general consensus from those in my network said the same as to why they were going to watch the game… the commercials.

That being said, by the end of the game, what was watched most (other than that excited last 4 minutes) was not the game or the commercials, but none other than… you guessed it, the Twitter feed.

With hashtags like #superbowl and #brandbowl driving the conversation, it was amazing watching a commercial and then guessing how quickly that commercial would trend on Twitter.

At first, I thought companies would capitalize with engagement or anything relevant to the conversation outside of… here’s the link to the commercial everybody is talking about. And to be honest, I was impressed with @amazonmp3 for tweeting a link to download “Gonna Fly Now” immediately after it was featured in an Hyundai ad.

But after that, not much social going on with social media as social media was driving the social aspect of the “Greatest show on Earth.”

Honestly, the best I have ever seen a company capitalize on a TV show in an seemingly unstaged way or at least the appearance of was with Baja Fresh when their CEO David Kim was featured on Undercover Boss.

For them, David himself was actively engaging people tweeting about the show while it aired… in all time zones. Of course, their website and everything was staged up to play off the broadcast, but enlisting their CEO to engage too…. TOUCHDOWN!

So where were the companies yesterday during this Twitter bonanza?

Even if you weren’t a company who spent millions to showcase their goods during the game with what I felt was an average showing of commercials, where were you?

Certainly, perhaps dialogue during the game may not have been brand specific, but it sure was customer specific. And what an opportunity it was to come off as not a brand… but actually one of us… the consumer.

Now to be fair, I don’t want to make this a broad stroke of the brush and assume no one was engaging, and maybe they didn’t need to. Maybe their metric was to get people talking about it… in the moment. But for me, if you engaged me as well in the moment, I would still be talking about you beyond the moment.

Did you notice any brands or companies engaging yesterday? If so, who? How did they do?

Posted by on February 6, 2012 in advertising, engagement, marketing, social media, super bowl and tagged , .

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February 1, 2012

My Last Super Bowl with Dad

My dad died of cancer on March 13, 2003. It was 8:05 am when he took his last breath. I was there when life left the room.

It was an experience I will take with me forever. Or at least until my breath too… bids farewell.

Dad was forty years older than me. With this, came much wisdom that still seems to find its way along my path to this day. It is amazing the lessons one can learn from a lost loved one long after they have gone.

Quite frankly, many of them come in the form of a memory. Though at the time, it was simply life playing out, but… over time, many of these memories seamlessly transitioned into a playbook of lessons meant for daily consumption and application.

When did this transition occur? I don’t know.

During the last few years of my dads journey, his health had taken a turn for the worse. What started out 2001 with a heart attack, ended the year with lung cancer.

My dad had smoked most of his life, but quit a decade earlier. I remember his doctor telling him… “It looks like your past has returned to haunt you.”

As if hearing the words… you have cancer is not enough.

Over the next year, dad fought cancer courageously and even knocked it down briefly, only for it to return with a vengeance that December in 2002.

Sadly, this time the cancer meant business as it was also coupled with a stroke. With this, it essentially took treatment off the table. I remember standing outside of my dads hospital room when his doctor told mom and I… “I don’t wish this on my worst enemy.”

It was then that the doctor looked us square in the eyes and said that dad will never be the same again.

Those months were hard. I felt so helpless. With dads condition, he would take one step forward, and ten steps back.

You found yourself in a place where you became afraid to hope. Instead, you simply sought to live in the moments. With doing this, I realized it wasn’t hope that I needed… it was peace that I was looking for.

As I look back, I believe that’s what dad wanted, too.

One Sunday, dad and I found peace…

___________________________________

For nearly 25 years I had faithfully rooted for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL football team. For nearly a handful of those years I did not have much to cheer for.

Over the years, people could not understand how a person living in Oregon could be a diehard fan for such a losing franchise located on the other-side of the country.

I remember how sad I was after that first NFC Championship loss to the then Los Angeles Rams, 9-0. I remember where I was and how I felt. Sadly, it still stings.

The joke always was…

The Bucs will win the Superbowl in the next 10 years…of course I had said that for the previous 15.

Many thoughts passed my mind over the years. What would I do if they ever made it to the Superbowl? I knew for sure the only place I wanted to be was at the game or somewhere in the vicinity of the game. One thing for sure was…a party would be happening.

However, the Bucs kept losing. (again and again and again.)

My first Bucs game in person was in the old Kingdome in Seattle. It was 20 years after the Bucs had lost in that game to the Rams. Ironically, they found themselves in the championship game with the Rams again… and lost.

Oh so close to that party I had been planning for so many years.

Have I told you that I do NOT like the Rams?

With the Bucs continuing their winning ways the next season(except for championship games agains the rams), my day finally came.

In 2003, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally made it to the Superbowl.

However, this was not a year for parties. My dad’s cancer had returned, this coupled with a stroke didn’t leave things looking so good. For several days prior to the game, while I was out of town for work, my dad laid in bed. He had become immobile.

So sad.

With this, there was no question where I was to be for this game. My mind was no longer on all the things I dreamed about making this day into.

My heart was… there was no other place I would rather watch this game then to be at my dad’s side.

As I rushed home from out of town, my brother had got my dad out of bed and out to the living room. He was in his favorite chair. When I arrived, there he was. Not looking good, but in his favorite chair. I found my place next to him. I watched this game at his side sitting in his wheelchair.

The halftime shows at the Superbowl are usually spectacular and yet I found myself during this halftime show getting my dad out of his favorite chair and onto the portable toilet we had brought into the room.

Although I do not remember much more of the game. I remember the look in his eyes as he humbly, yet still, sat on that portable toilet as the Bucs had just won the game. He was so excited for me as he struggled to speak that which only his eyes could say.

…It was a look that said, “I love you.“ that only a heart could produce. It was also a look that appeared to be held captive within a body that could no longer operate the way it once did.

Have you ever wanted to just say something, but for some reason your lips wouldn’t move? This was the case and his eyes told the story.

A story that played itself out in the only way that would seem right, that after all these years, my team won. After all these years, there was no place I would rather be.

This was my party.

Shortly after the game, my post-game celebration consisted of getting my dad into bed and changing his adult-sized diapers. It was a painfully sad task, and not an easy one to accomplish at that.

But, again…there was no place I would rather be.

As we got dad settled into bed, my voice mail was busy being filled up by well-wishers congratulating me on the Bucs victory.

At this point, the game seemed all too distant.

The next day my dad was rushed to the hospital. It would be the last night he would spend in his home. A month and a half later. He was gone.

It would be the last football game I would watch with my dad. Ironically, my dad was a 49ers fan. I watched with him a few weeks earlier as the Bucs knocked them out of the playoffs.

In a weird way, it was like a father to son passing of the torch. I was always excited watching my dad’s joy as his team won. And now…one last time…yet for the first time…the joy was returned.

It would not be until my birthday, one month after he died that I would realize the full extent of that Superbowl victory. I received a Buccaneer jersey and a special addition Sports Illustrated.

That’s right…the Bucs did win!!! What a game!

And now, seasons have come and gone, and yet…I…I will always have that ONE game…I will always have that ONE look.

For it was in that one look that peace was found. It was a peace that but for a moment… took the pain of cancer away and replaced it with the fullness of time spent between a father and son.

Sure this was just a game, but for me… it was much much more than that.

How will you watch the game?

Posted by on February 1, 2012 in cancer, Life, Superbowl and tagged .

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January 15, 2012

I Have a Dream

I recall when the debate took place in the 80′s as to whether states should adapt a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I remember while in high school, students held a sit out because Oregon had not yet honored this day. I remember walking amidst the crowd of students with one of my favorite teachers, Chuck Wetherell.

As we walked, I remember his words as he surveyed the students…

“I bet you most of of these students have never heard “the” speech.”

Flying home from Atlanta to Portland this past weekend, I sat next to Walter. Walter was an elderly African-American who spent his entire life in Portland, Oregon. He and his wife were preparing to move to Atlanta, Georgia.

Together, we watched a football game on the screen located on the back of the seat in front of me. Together, we laughed and enjoyed each others company.

With this, I cannot imagine a day where this could not happen. In this, I cannot believe that in this day and age, we still find racial inequality in that one set of people deem another set of people to be of lesser value.

With this, I can only pause and ponder on that which he have become and that which we have yet to become. And as I ponder, I ask one question…

When do dreams come true?

May it not be on our shoulders that another generation passes before this dream is fulfilled. For in this, may we all begin to see the character of others and no longer the color of their skin. And from this, let us begin to march boldly into the future… as one.

As I listen to “the” speech, I cannot help but to turn back the clock and imagine the impact others in the civil rights movement must have felt from it. For in it was a man pointing people to a brighter future. A future reached through perseverance, discipline, and the willingness to dare to dream.

Has this hope for a brighter future yet drawn nigh? Has not this dream found its time to become unlocked from the hearts and minds of the many and ushered forth into the reality of the daily walk? The daily walk not that of one people, but that of all people… hand in hand, in step, and with the voice of a choir of angels.

What dream will you help unlock today?

This week, I am proud to join These Numbers Have Faces in seeking to bring this dream and the dreams of the many to fruition.

They are doing a campaign this week called “We Have A Dream,” spotlighting the amazing dreams of their scholars in South Africa.

This is a young woman named Busisiswe. When she was 7 she lost her mother to HIV/AIDS. At 13 she lost her sister to gang violence. But through These Numbers Have Faces she persevered and is now studying accounting at a prestigious South African University. Her dream is to fight poverty in her community and change it for generations to come. Amazing.

If you would, please share this image of this amazing young woman and her dreams for the future.

In the words of Dr King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

In this, for all those who have never heard “the” speech, here it is. Do yourself a favor and listen, read, pause, and reflect.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”2

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!3

Posted by on January 15, 2012 in civil rights, Life, Martin Luther King Jr and tagged , , .

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January 9, 2012

Me and Dad: Golf

As we left the store on this dark and gloomy day, the smile on my face was as wide as the moon.

Today, my dad bought me my first driver golf club and he would not be denied his first opportunity to take me golfing to test this new club out. The rain was hard. The wind was fierce. We even saw lightning strike a power line on our way to the course.

This was golf in Oregon. This was golf with dad. This was for the love of the game.

A father and son… A new club…

We arrived at the small 9 hole golf course located out in the country. The parking lot was empty. We had the whole course to ourselves as the stormy weather had kept other golfers away.

The first hole was a short par 4 and straight as an arrow.

A metal framed barn sat in the near distance, just past the green about 150 yards… to the left, a country road. We made our way to the green, the rain washing us clean as the wind howled past us on every side.

There we were… just me and dad.

As I stood over my ball preparing to putt, dad was shuffling through his clubs to find his putter.

“SLAM!”

The metal framed barn across the way just got hit with lightning! Too shocked to be scared, I scrambled to throw my putter in my bag. No sooner than I could do that, I turned to see what all the commotion was behind me.

In a flash, several clubs had fallen out of dad’s bag. He quickly picked them up and proceeded to run faster then I have ever seen him run in my life!

Normal protocol for a kid my age was to be overwhelmed with fear. However, thanks to dad’s sprint to the club house, I found myself laughing out loud as I tried to keep up with a sprint of my own.

As we arrived at the clubhouse, my dad, slightly irritated at my laughing as well as my lack of urgency, sought out a “rain-check” for another day.

We did play another course that day. We just waited for the lightning to stop. (Of course that course was flooded, which made for some interesting strategy. But, i’ll save that story for another day.)

And so it was growing up with dad.

We golfed for the love of the game. And now I know that we golfed for much more than just the love of the game… but for the love of the memory.

Thankfully, those memories are many. (By the way, my dad was a great player too. He had a short game that was untouchable.)

I lost my dad in 2003.

What I would give to have one more time on the course with dad. I wish I appreciated then what I so miss now.

Time with dad walking the course.

As he grew older and weaker, he was no longer able to get out and play. Yet still, I would find myself on many occasions sitting with him and swapping stories about this course or that course.

Golf is one of those sports that gets personal for me. I can never play without feeling as if dad is at my side or a certain memory of our times playing a round or two.

Today, I wish I could get out more and play. When I do, I carry that club in my bag and look forward to that point during each and every game, where I pull it out and tee it up.

This one’s for you dad!

Watching the Masters is fun for me. But, to relive one of those memories with dad… priceless.

Without knowing it, dad was making his moments make a difference. In this, he was planting memories for me to unpack years later with a smile.

I wonder now how I am at making my moments make a difference?

I wish I could tell him thank you. But instead, I’ll just pull out that club and tee it up.

Thank you dad!

Speaking of golf and memories with my father, here is a recent episode of my blogtalkradio show with Greg Crawford talking about golf. To listen to the episode, click here.

Posted by on January 9, 2012 in golf and tagged , .

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January 3, 2012

Keeping Perspective: Going Outside to Go Inside

Going outside to go inside is something we should all seek to do.

Its called perspective.

Yet in this, it is so easy to think one has perspective when in the end, somewhere along the line, they’ve lost perspective.

When I oversaw a chain of bookstores, a few of them were located in a mall. I loved this as it gave me the opportunity to take our managers outside into the mall so we could then return back inside our store a short while later with something in hand… renewed perspective.

As we would walk through the mall, I would casually talk with the store manager about how they were doing, how the staff was doing, and just life in general. Along the way, I would subtly point out other stores as we quickly walked by and made brief observations of what caught my eye at quick glance.

As we would begin to draw close back at our store, I would always abruptly stop. Generally, this would be about 50 feet from the entrance and I would ask one question.

What do you see?

Way too often, we fail to go outside.

In this, I propose that by not seeking to go outside “your” world from time to time will severely stunt your ability to truly gain critical perspective about how one is doing on the inside.

When I was running several companies, I sought outside perspective all the time. Though they who I sought on the outside did not share with me that which was on my inside, what they shared was a perspective on something I needed to help grow me on the inside.

So, I poured myself into books by authors from all walks of life, I poured myself into others who have lived in all walks of life, and essentially in this.. went outside to go inside.

What was always amazing to me was as I would stand there 50 feet outside of the store with the manager, just how much they would see on the inside of their store that they didn’t see previously on the inside of their store.

And so it goes with organizations, brands, and products alike, sometimes its okay to step outside your “expertise” to gain critical perspective that will only grow your expertise.

In doing this, I woud propose that it will make you better. In doing this, it will help sharpen your focus, expand your reach, remove barriers from potential prospects, and quite frankly just make you better because you were willing to do it.

When one is not, than I question the perspective you even have.

In the accounting world, its called an audit. In the perspective world, its called wisdom.

Whatever you choose to call it, I say do it.

Posted by on January 3, 2012 in Business, Life, perspective and tagged , .

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January 2, 2012

Social Selling: The Power of Being… a Person

More often than not, people dive into the world of social media to hopefully drive people to them, their message, and their product. However, it is when they figure out that the beauty of social media is when one adopts a posture that rather instead, drives them to others.

It really is something to see that whenever we have a tweetup (a public, yep you guessed it, in person gathering of Twitter users) I always get asked by first time attendees as to what they are supposed to do.

My response is always the same:

  • Come with the posture of getting to know others first
  • Be yourself
  • Don’t sell anything
  • Have fun

That being said, don’t get me wrong, for organizations using social media, of course one wants to drive awareness. However, I believe that the key to organizations using social media successfully is found with using social media like you’re an individual and not a brand.

In this, how can an organization, brand, or product begin to think like a person and not like a thing?

I know it sounds so simple, but it’s true. How often have you been turned off by an organization, brand, or product using social media like an organization, brand, or product?

And further to the point, how unique and refreshing did it seem when you encountered an organization, brand, or product that used social media like a person?

With this, which breeds loyalty and which just creates noise?

The also can be said for this new digital frontier now being amassed by countless affiliate marketers. Note to you: When selling your product using social media, think and act like a person, not an, organization, brand, or product.

With social media, people need to start thinking like brands and brands need to start acting like people. Notice I said…. Thinking for people and acting for brands.

With our viral footprints out there for the world to see, individuals need to understand this as it can impact your life in many ways. That being said, so can an organization make an positive impact if it simply began to act like an individual.

I mean, social means social, right?

So, for you organizations, brands, or products… if you want to stand out from the crowd which is filled with organizations, brands, products, and sales people:

  • Think like a person
  • Act like a person

In doing this, this builds credibility, trust, and loyalty in the long run.

Why did you dive into social media?

In how you are driven to others will determine how they will be driven to you.

What next? Read these previous posts to help get you started…

Like what you’re reading? If so, please feel free to tweet it, post it, email it, or like it. Thanks. G!

Posted by on January 2, 2012 in Life, social media, social selling and tagged , .

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January 1, 2012

All it takes is one. Will it be you? #life

I remember the day my dad passed. It was March 13, 2003.

Driving home that day I remember seeing the things I had seen my entire life and yet feeling so unfamiliar. This was the first time I had seen these things without my dad. It was as if my soul was screaming out to the world to slow down and hold up… it was missing somebody. It was leaving someone behind.

And yet still… the world continued on.

Life happens.

As I drove to the hospice house today to pay my respects to the recently departed Constantino Bustos-Cruz, I pondered this.

Who was crying out to the world to slow down and hold up for him?

In a world of 7 billion people, to die alone can no longer be but in this case for the love of a friend, Meg.

For  Tino, certainly he passed with no family to be seen or friends at his side, but because of Meg, I am certain he did not die alone and feeling unloved or unknown.

For it was only the day before when Meg visited Tino and held his hand. And with eyes closed and all the strength I am sure he could muster, he tapped her hand as if to say.. I love you too. I know you are here.

The singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn once wrote.. to be in the heart of a friend is to be king. And it is at that moment as Tino was nearing the end that I know that I know that I know that he must have felt like he was king.

He was in the heart of a friend and will remain there forever.

Who was crying out to the world to slow down and hold up for him? My friend Meg was.

In a world of 7 billion people, all it takes is one to carry another within their heart in their darkest hour to make this hour no longer dark… but as bright as the noonday sun.

You know, in life… we all have a role. Are you living yours?

As I sat there and looked upon the lifeless body of Tino, I pondered… why does it take death to bring such peace?

Thank you Meg for ushering in that peace at just the right time.

For who will you usher in that place of peace for this year?

And in doing this, may it not take death to bring it about but each of us playing our part living life with our eyes wide open.

Who will cry out for the least of these when they are gone? In the new year, may it not take them leaving before we begin crying out for them.

Is someone in your heart? Do they know they are king or queen? If not, make it so. Not for you… but for them. And in this, may this also be said of you, too.

All it takes is one, will it be you?

Posted by on January 1, 2012 in Life and tagged , , , .

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January 1, 2012

Did the weary rejoice? #life

I’m curious. As another Christmas season comes and goes like the blink of an eye, I wonder… for those who are as they say they are, what are the metrics of how you lived this season?

Did you live in such a way that would cause a weary world to rejoice?

For that matter, what does this even look like other than perhaps a new found strength and ability to rise up and live another day, but this time with a posture of victory and not that of defeat.

For those who are as you say you are, you know exactly that of which I speak.

In this, perhaps it is you that needs to first believe in that which is truly deserved of rejoice. For with this, it is you who are weary more so than they you profess to help.

A friend said today of another who laid peacefully next to us, now lifeless.

The meek shall inherit the earth.

As we sat there and spoke of the life this one who has passed lived, she looked at him and called him among the meek.

Meek: enduring injury with patience and without resentment

Can we say that about ourselves? Rarely not.

And in this, perhaps is found the difference. Maybe this weary world we speak of who is in need of rejoice is actually us? Yet, we go about feeling good about ourselves for our good deeds and then return to a life filled with resentments and pain.

Maybe it is they who we deem are the weary who are the ones who truly rejoice… in the little things, victories, and all things we take for granted. In this, maybe there is more peace in this than we know?

For the meek will inherit the earth as they stand and rejoice… and for the rest of us… we’ll continue to live in denial, because in the end… it is we who are the weary.

May this new year bring change to this. May this new year bring an increased awareness of that which is worthy of rejoicing to each of us.

May this new year bring about the removal of barriers that keeps each of us from crossing the bridge from the weary to the rejoicing.

And in this, together… we all will be rejoicing… on the other side.

Today, I sat with two individuals who crossed that bridge. One remains and the other has left.

Both… now rejoicing.

I’m curious. As another Christmas season comes and goes like the blink of an eye, I wonder… for those who are as they say they are, what are the metrics of how you lived this season?

Did you live in such a way that would cause a weary world to rejoice?

Or have you just become… more weary?

In the new year, do you want to become unweary? Do you want to rejoice?

Than spend more time with the meek, and why not? Wouldn’t you want to be with those who will inherit the earth?

And in this, you too will have crossed the bridge.

Posted by on January 1, 2012 in Life, meek and tagged , , , .

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December 24, 2011

That One Night: Scenes from the Nativity

Photo & Video by @GunnarSimonsen

* Movie scenes from The Nativity

Posted by on December 24, 2011 in Christmas and tagged , , , , .

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