Analytics is HOT – Chicago Group brings FINTECH and Sport Analytics Together – #IMPAC2017

Sorry if it sounds like I am geeking out here, but read on! Most of you know we

Analytics is HOT – Chicago Group brings FINTECH and Sport Analytics Together – #IMPAC2017

Article, Blogging, Business, Social Media News blog, chicago, dean delisle, FINTECH, impac2017, informs, linkedin, sport analytics Dean

Sorry if it sounds like I am geeking out here, but read on!

Most of you know we handle a ton of conferences and provide Influencer Marketing services. When asked by INFORMS to participate in their conference, it reactivated my technical network, meaning that connections from my roots were brought forward. I have been in the financial arena since the early 80’s and I’ve been in or around analytics for most of my career; I’ve been a huge fan of sports all my life. So when I looked at the INFORMS conference and saw this network coming together I was tremendously excited.

Those of you that know me, you know I am all about the network. When you look at the speakers and topics it’s almost hard for me to pick a track. So we are splitting up and coming together on the LinkedIn Group afterwards to compare notes! Then you have the companies connected to the speakers, STATS – the best live sports data provider I know, can’t wait to meet Patrick Lucey, Ph. D., Director of Data Sciences. I will have a follow up interview blog after the conference. Liz Wanless, Ph. D., from Ball State University will talk about something near and dear to my heart, which is Customer Relationships and Sales Optimization, she will be sharing two revenue enhancement case studies. Russell Walker, Ph. D., from Northwestern will be talking Big Data related to Sports Management; this is changing our world and delivery of stats as we speak. Zach Binkley, Ph. D., Lewis University will be sharing sports performance communication, implementation and innovation; with all the data today, this is a massive undertaking.

From my FINTECH world I can’t wait to hear what Michael Rechenthin, Ph. D, from tastytrade has to say about Data Sciences and Collaboration, this is right in my wheelhouse of content. We also know that Machine Learning and Predictive models are hot and that topic will be covered by Justin Dickerson, Ph.D. – he will dig into Default, Fraud and Scoring which is a big piece of our financial world today. Joe DeCosmo, Chief Analytics Officer from Enova, will address Real Time Analytics. We are in such a “real time, on demand” world, and he will share what is trending and what the future holds.

Take a look the chart below, all speakers have a critical handle on what is hot and going on right now, so that is why it is tough to select a track!

IMPAC 2017 – INFORMS Midwest Practice of Analytics Conference

The only negative? The conference only has 100 seats at the current venue! However, you can get on a waiting list for the next conference and early notification for the next conference.

Registration and Waiting List link: http://connect.informs.org/chicago/meetings/impac2017

If you cannot make this conference please ask me what questions you want answered at the bottom of this post and I will do my best to get them addressed here or in the LinkedIn Groups

Also, check the new INFORMS Chicago Twitter account

To follow activity and update use Hashtag: #IMPAC2017

Location: University of Notre Dame, Chicago Campus – 224 S. Michigan Avenue (2nd Floor), Chicago IL 60604

We also want to acknowledge all sponsors that are supporting this event:

Social Jack and Forward Progress are proud to participate in this great event, we look forward to seeing you at the event or on the related social channels on the journey!

Aug 2017

7 Steps to Promote Your Podcast Interview – Increase Your Influencerness [yes, I made up this word!]

So you have been asked to be a guest on a podcast…Great! In the spirit of Influencer Marketing,

7 Steps to Promote Your Podcast Interview – Increase Your Influencerness [yes, I made up this word!]

Article, Branding, Business Building Tips, Social Jack Best Practices blog, dean delisle, forward progress, Itunes, linkedin, Marketing, personal branding, podcast, podcasting, social jack, social teaming, technori Dean

So you have been asked to be a guest on a podcast…Great! In the spirit of Influencer Marketing, we hope it receives plenty of traction and social reach. In our previous blog, How to be a Social Influencer, we spoke of being a “Thought Leader” and turning on the “Content Machine”. Fortunately for you, podcasting is a great way to do just that. People get to hear your voice, know your personality, gain insights and knowledge from you, and even better, you can attach the podcast to blogs like this and to social media. In fact, my previous blog references a podcast I was on — speaking about this very topic. Once you follow the steps I describe below, your podcast will also support your efforts in Personal Branding, described in another one of our blogs, Personal Branding – A Great Start to your Social Selling Journey!

With so many of you getting interviewed, we thought we should tell you what to do before, during and after the podcast. For Social Jack™, we have a promotion process for each and every production, whether it be a podcast or webcast, so the best thing to do is understand some critical information about the podcast you are working with. Examples include what is their promotion cycle, what is their timing, etc. We reference this in the following list of steps.

7 Steps to promote your podcast interview

1. Promote on social media and other outlets 2 weeks before, if the podcast producers have a show schedule that references you. There is typically a website they have for the blog that will mention upcoming shows. You should sync the timing of this “xx” with any posting of your show. If they don’t have one, you can choose to promote a couple of weeks before, no further out than that. Once you’ve done this, you can tag and link back to that show, discussing how you are looking forward to the podcast.

2. Notify your Team! Remember Social Teaming, it is the essence of teamwork: you’re not doing this this all alone! Tell them you are on this podcast, ask them to watch for social media, ask them to listen and provide feedback and get in the game with you! It’s collaborative, and it’s fun. You will also pick up more podcasts and speaking gigs this way too, it’s proven.

3. Ahead of schedule, plan to blog about it, then you can have a link to the show from the blog post. This will provide good traffic between your site and theirs (and remember to use ample keywords). Also consider shooting a video talking about the upcoming podcast, or plan one for the release date of the podcast.

4. Promote the podcast on social media the day of the show recording; some podcast producers promote as well, but others do not because it locks them into a production release schedule.

5. Once the podcast is published, it’s time for you to go gonzo, tag your show and host, also remember all your channels. Once published, go ahead and cut lose with the blog or update the blog if done ahead of time.

6. 30 and 90 days after: (if relevant to your current business you can thank them and repost) – don’t forget use of #hashtags and @tags!

7. Forever after…. Keep using the podcast in your content cycle as long as it is relevant!

Now, go do the next podcast interview and keep following this protocol to put yourself out there to support your influencerness (yes, I made up this word just for you!) ?

PRO TIP: Remember to always listen to your blog interview and think about what you could have done better or said better to improve your position as a thought leader. Also, listen to your competitors and colleague’s podcasts as well. You should always be looking for those nuggets to be better.

TOP RESOURCE: We recently did a full course on podcasting with top Podcaster Scott Kitun, from Technori, one of the top-rated media podcasts featured on WGN Radio, here in Chicago. Below is access to the slides; if you would like access to the full class we did, simply go to Social Jack™ and join for a 90-day free trial and you will have access to this class and over 200 others for that period — and weekly coaching, too. This is our gift to you for being part of our community.

To learn more about Podcasting, check out Podcasting 101 Marketing on SlideShare

In closing, let us know when your podcast airs and the team at Social Jack™ will gladly listen and promote your efforts. Remember, we are on your Social Team and we are all in this together!

See you online!

Aug 2017

Employee Advocacy & Social Teaming – The Evidence and Numbers Are In – But Wait

So, @Social Media Today had a great article titled 12 Reasons why Your Business Should be Utilizing Employee Advocacy,

Employee Advocacy & Social Teaming – The Evidence and Numbers Are In – But Wait

Article, Blogging, Branding, Business Building Tips, Education, Social Jack Best Practices, Social Media News blog, dean delisle, Employee Advocacy, linkedin, News, social media, Social Media Today Dean

So, @Social Media Today had a great article titled 12 Reasons why Your Business Should be Utilizing Employee Advocacy, with a great Infographic from @LinkedIn. This was fantastic for me — and timely – because I had some talks lined up on Employee Advocacy and Social Teaming. I’d like to highlight the numbers I think are the most relevant here.

On Average, a company’s employees have 10X as many connections as the company has followers. 10 Times? Yes — and this is proven. In many of our Social Selling and Social Culture programs, we know for a fact that the average employee has 240 connections, and with their two degrees of connections, their social reach hits about 3.8 million connections. Now, to be sure, they won’t reach all those connections, and they’ll need a level of frequency to establish success, however their potential of reach to the company is far greater. The company page needs to rely on followers and there are only two ways to get followers: from existing followers (like employees) engaging, or from advertising. On average, the employee page has only 3% of the potential reach of the employees, and that is best case from our experience.

Every two employee shares from the company page on @LinkedIn result in a company page view, every six shares results in a Company Page follower! Wow, that is staggering, that is all it takes? Well, almost. We need the participation of those employees. How does that happen, how is that orchestrated?

Let me give you a real-life example from one of our clients, American Family Insurance. While at a recent conference, I was able to listen to long-time associate @TomBuchheim, who led the charge at American Family for their Employee Advocacy Program. I have always known they were on it, and proud to say I have been there since the early days of social, and frankly their approach was brilliant. In fact, it was very synergistic to our Social Teaming methodology for sales and culture development.

He mentioned how they formed teams of champions that would act as advocates for the brand and be willing to share content provided by the company to their LinkedIn pages. They started with a small group, then they continued to grow the teams. They created rewards and recognition for their efforts and it bonded the team and humanized the brand. They are even now tracking the success of this program to new business. They had so much success that it became the “in thing”, to a point where people are lining up to be on the next selection. “Pick me!” is how ! Imagine that.

So you see, these are simple metrics which prove the value of employee advocacy. Tom’s story at American Family Insurance is evidence and it continues to grow. We are excited because all of our programs at @Social Jack, Sales, Career, Recruiting and Culture have Social Teaming at the core. In fact here is our definition below, see how it resonates to the story above.

Social Team Definition

A group of professionals who have complimentary skills (1) driving to a common objective, goal or destination for which they (2) hold themselves mutually accountable for collective performance. They stay constant on their journey with the (3) purpose of building stronger relationships, trust and always think of other team members with genuine reciprocity. A Social Team (4) utilizes online social networks and the power of their targeted connections, within their sphere of influence, to (5) enhance the team’s relationships, reach, performance and success in reaching their common destination.

If you would like to read more, check out our blog post on Social Teaming:

Social Teaming – It's All About Who You Know.

Here is a snapshot and link to the revolutionary infographic by LinkedIn

So whether you are in the middle of this and working to figure it out, ask us about Social Teaming to energize this effort. If you’re not sure if management will approve it, show these numbers and this great infographic by LinkedIn to your boss. Think of it as “it is time or get left behind”, because it’s just too easy and it promotes culture development at the same time. What are you waiting for?

We hope to see you and your employees online and working together for a stronger brand!

Jul 2017

How You Can Be a Social Influencer – 5 Easy Tips to Get Started!

Notice I titled this ‘Social Influencer’, not ‘Social Media Influencer’. In our Social Influencer Marketing programs, we believe

How You Can Be a Social Influencer – 5 Easy Tips to Get Started!

Article, Blogging, Branding, Facebook, Google Tips, Social Jack Best Practices dean delisle, facebook, google, Google Alerts, Lean Social, linkedin, Social, Social Influencer, social jack Dean

Notice I titled this ‘Social Influencer’, not ‘Social Media Influencer’. In our Social Influencer Marketing programs, we believe that it is our job to have our clients become Influencers in their world, and Social Media is one vehicle for making that happen. Let’s see if you agree or disagree with me after this article…!

First, a definition: an influencer is, simply put, someone who carries influence over others. An influencer on social media wields influence through social media. You probably know that word-of-mouth is one of the valuable forms of marketing; in our digital age, word of mouth goes way beyond what friends and family recommend to you, and that’s where influencers come in. No matter who you are, if you’re a thought leader in your network, people think of you and come to you first.

Becoming a thought leader in your network is a process, and our standard plan for our clients has about 20 steps, but here, I want to give you the top five things that could give you a head start down this path, something to think about and gain some traction. Even if you do nothing more than this, you will be further ahead than when you started.

Even if you’re not aiming to be a solution provider, becoming a social influencer can help you advance your career; we actually teach this as part of our career advance program in universities. On a corporate level, showcasing a company’s culture on social media can build the company’s reputation. Even more, employees can become corporate advocates – you can empower staff members to share their own insights about their work on their own social media feeds!

#1 – Pick your niche or focus

To be an influencer people need to really be able to easily digest what you can and will do for them — how you will serve them and solve their problems. You are most likely a solution provider of some sort. If you can clearly address a need that your target audience has, and match the skills you have to what you can provide, then you’re well on your way. Make sure your solution speaks directly to their need so that you are addressing the lowest common denominator of the problem at hand.

Example:

Say you’re an accountant. There are thousands of accountants, what makes you different, what is your niche in this very crowded world? I have a friend who over the years has forged his reputation in property tax savings. He completed his law degree and represents his clients from both an accounting and legal perspective. While he has enough knowledge to do your taxes and many other services, he decided over 20 years ago to pick a specialty and maintain that position. He is now one of the most recognized property tax attorneys in Chicago and has a limitless flow of referrals. We are now looking at how to add the social media component to take him to the next level. You might be this same position. Once you know your focus, you’re ready to move to the next step.

#2 – Subscribe and Monitor The Competition

While you may not think there is any, there is always competition. How to find them? Simply Google search either by need or solution discussed previously, then look for blogs, webcasts, podcasts, and other sources of information. This will give you a perspective on how to either refine your message or, if nothing else, what to do better or what not do. This will only make you better. You can also set up Google Alerts with those words of ‘need’ or ‘solution’ as mentioned earlier, names of competitors, even your own name(s).

To setup a Google Alert you will need a gmail account and be logged into google, then simply go to: https://www.google.com/alerts , add as many words or phrases as mentioned above, define the frequency, and you’ll be alerted when this news hits the Internet.

Once you do find competitors or colleagues, make sure you subscribe to them and block out regular time to review the information you glean. This will only make you better.

#3 – Define Your Social Channels

You will never master all channels, so you need to really think of where your ideal target spends the most of their time, and decide what you can manage. We manage channels for many clients who want to be influencers and don’t have the time to make that happen, so you can consider that as well – hire and pay for assistance or find a volunteer help to build and manage. You can also reference our slide deck listed below.

Remember when doing this: one tip is to simply ask your clients where they spend their time on social media. This will give you a great start to making that choice.

#4 – Look like a thought leader (a.k.a. Social Influencer)

Please reference one of my last blog posts on Personal Branding, this is the critical next step. Google yourself and see how your digital footprint represents your position in the market place. Most likely, social media sites like LinkedIn, videos and personal websites with your name will be at the top. You’ll want to make sure the first two pages identify that ‘solution’ niche you selected in step one. Be sure to update all your profiles and remove or rename any content that is not relevant. Your past will catch you up here, so be sure to search, scan and clean it up! Mark your calendars at the first of the month as a reminder to yourself to do this on a regular basis; we create more social profiles by accident than we know!

#5 – Turn on your content machine – remember your focus!

Okay, don’t get overwhelmed here, but you’ll need to schedule and start posting relevant content about your niche, your focus. This can consist of videos, blog posts, podcasts, interviews, slide decks (like we have done above), photos, articles you write or are featured in, and anything else that can live on the internet. Remember, when you are posting any content, tie it back to your social media sites and websites, and always make sure you include client’s need and the solution you provide. One of the simplest tips here is that you can add videos, slides or articles to your LinkedIn profile. If you author something, make sure to claim it, add it to your profiles, websites, and then post about it on your social media channels. And if you do work with a partner like us, make sure you communicate to your partners and trusted allies that you are posting and want their support to jump into the conversion online with you.

In Summary – you are an influencer – time for the next level!

You are all influencers; sometimes, as we develop and migrate, we get lost in the shuffle of our business or lives, and we need to regroup, focus, reclaim our position, and tell the world. The great news is that Social Media allows us to do this faster and more efficiently than ever before. There are also millions of other people trying the same thing. The important thought to remember is to not get overwhelmed, start with these simple steps, and if you need help, ask those around you for support. If you would like to have a conversion with us, just email me and let’s set something up, you might be closer than you think.

To hear more on this subject, you can listen to a recent podcast where I was interviewed on Influencer Marketing: “Turn Attendees Into Super Fans Using Influencer Marketing with Dean DeLisle”

Social Jack™ is also a proud sponsor of the Virtual Event: Best Practices in Influencer Marketing, which will be taking place on Tuesday, August 1st, 2017.

Can’t wait to see you looking good as a social influencer online soon! – Dean

Jul 2017

Facebook Live – Three Easy Steps for a Successful Webcast

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, the video streaming world has been opened to everyone. While it’s been out

Facebook Live – Three Easy Steps for a Successful Webcast

Article, Facebook, Social Jack Best Practices dean delisle, facebook, facebook live, flash class, ForwardProgress, live broadcasting, Power Move, social jack, webcast Dean

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, the video streaming world has been opened to everyone. While it’s been out for a little while now, Facebook Live’s popularity shows no signs of slowing down. This is all by design, of course; Zuckerberg figured that if he could get everyone streaming from Facebook, then he could beat out Googleat their YouTube game and dominate video streaming, both live and recorded. He is so invested in this that his team built an algorithm: once you commit to a Facebook Live broadcast, Facebook will immediately start to gather an audience for you. Now this works better from a personal page than a business page, but below we will show you three easy steps — or as we like to call them, “Power Moves” — to help you prep either way.

Power Move #1 – Plan Your Production

Typically, no more than one day ahead is required for this, because these streams are meant to be short and entertaining. For us, our business is Influencer Marketing, so we make sure we add a little bit of education and inspiration to the formula, but this all depends on your brand and image you want to portray. For clarification, please see our previous articles on Personal Branding and Storytelling.

So one day ahead, plot your topic. Keep it easy to digest and engaging. Next, determine your target audience; if you have hundreds or even thousands of followers, determine who you want to attract and then tailor your message to that person or that audience This will make it seem personal, and your audience will better relate to it if your message speaks to them. Also think hashtags and tagging, no shame in using a couple of hashtags; even though it’s Facebook, it can still play a role in helping your video get found once it’s posted. We also recommend tagging others who might be in the video or mentioned in the video. It’s always best to get permission before you tag someone, especially in video; always remember that this business is all about the relationships. Don’t be a tag spammer (tagging a ton of people without permission). This is a huge turn off. Another consideration is that time is valuable, and it may be difficult at first to figure out who will take the time to do this, but ask your audience for feedback as well.

Once you have this process set and in place, tell your social network in advance what and when you are doing your subsequent production. This will allow them to plan to tune in, once Facebook notifies them.

Power Move #2 – Talk to Your Audience

The best thing we can tell you here is to make sure to remember this is a conversation with your audience, so acknowledge those who are tuning in, mention those who comment, and create a level of engagement so that others will be encouraged to chime in. Once they join, Facebook will notify their network that they are on the live stream with you and this will allow your audience to grow even more. This is wonderfully simple – and beautifully effective.

Power Move #3 – C.T.A. – Call to Action

Now that you have an audience, make sure you know where you are taking them next. Are you using this process to build community, take them to the next broadcast, have them download something, go to a landing page or website, call your office, you name it, it’s yours for the asking, just remember to ask.

Summary

Remember: thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, you are now in the live broadcast business, so use this to your advantage. Even when we do our large Influencer Marketing Broadcast Events, we do a few Facebook Live feeds to help drive engagement. Whether you are doing small production work or big production work like us, there is always a place to insert Facebook Live!

Remember the three easy steps:

1. Plan

2. Engage

3. Call to Action

I hope you found this helpful and we look forward to seeing your next online broadcast!

Here is the Power Point from one of our Flash Classes on this topic:

Facebook Flash Class – How to Thrive with Facebook Live

Jul 2017

Storytelling Best Practices – Microsoft’s Miri Rodriquez tells how they do it

Recently we hosted my good friend Miri Rodriquez from Microsoft at Business Accelerator Webcast sponsored by American Family Insurance — and we learned a

Storytelling Best Practices – Microsoft’s Miri Rodriquez tells how they do it

Business, Business Building Tips, Social Jack Best Practices amfam, dean delisle, forward progress, linkedin, microsoft, Miri Rodriguez, social teaming, socilajack, storytelling Dean

Recently we hosted my good friend Miri Rodriquez from Microsoft at Business Accelerator Webcast sponsored by American Family Insurance — and we learned a lot!

Miri recently shifted roles at Microsoft; from Social Media to Storyteller. Would we even think that this – Storyteller — would ever be a corporate position, and at Microsoft? This digital world really grows in fun and crazy ways! I believe she said Microsoft employs over 1,000 Storytellers.

It might seem easy and cool, but remember she had to switch from Social Media to Storytelling, which meant moving to a much more technical gig. Miri literally has to work with engineers and determine the best way to tell their story.

Let’s share a few simple things we learned from her:

1. They really love to humanize the brand by sharing stories of achievement, and that’s a move I really like. What’s more, they don’t just share the glory, they share all the up’s and downs, keeping it real and totally authentic. Kudos to Microsoft. They talk about Movement, Heroism, Betterment and Destination. If you who know me you also know that I am all about the destination! So remember to keep the story real, make sure to talk about all of it, ranging from your challenges to your wins.

2. Another key learning for all of us is to stay consistent through personality, tone and purpose; yes, purpose. I like this, we talk about it all the time, but think about sticking to this when at a company the size of Microsoft! When we at @ForwardProgress work on social media accounts, we practice this consistency and integration, and we have a guide for each client on this topic. Microsoft has a platform-based guide that dictates these guidelines and it is the responsibility of the Storyteller to actually read and understand any updates before the next story. Big lesson we can all earn here! Easy, practical and effective.

3. Remember to build assets and share them on all channels. There are several ways to do this. You can build assets like video on YouTube and connect networks by sharing from one Social Network to another so that you can drive new users to your story. It’s really that easy.

4. Remember to include influencers: just like we are telling a story here about Storytelling and connecting Miri, Microsoft, American Family and our brands, you can do the same thing. The goal is to tell your story and include others, don’t go it alone. As you develop your brand, celebrate it with others and allow them to celebrate it too. Remember the other key factor of transparency, notice that Miri has it listed three times above.

Summary with Bonus

To summarize, make sure you know your story; you can even test it with others and get feedback. Then once you have it, “Tell it Well”; it shapes your personal brand and you as a professional. Remember to build some guidelines and content to share, learn and build as you go. Also, remember to tell REAL stories of REAL people and how your company or you helped them achieve their goals. Lastly, don’t go it alone, ask others that care about your mission for help. If you are part of our Social Jack members, use your Social Team, and make sure you put it out there! I will add one thing [it’s the bonus!] as I am going through this myself now: once you land on your story, update your Social Media profiles! Do not forget!

If you would like to see a copy of this broadcast, please see the link below in the Business Accelerator Event Center. You can also get access to hundreds of other articles and previous recordings.

Access to recording:

https://www.dreamfearlessly.com/event/live-webcast-telling-your-brands-story-with-microsofts-miri-rodriguez/

I hope you found this as useful as I did, see you online soon!

Jul 2017

Social Selling for Facebook: Two Easy Things to do Now to Generate Referrals

Those of you who know me know what my team and I do for a living: we train

Social Selling for Facebook: Two Easy Things to do Now to Generate Referrals

Business, Facebook, Social Jack Best Practices, Social Selling business, dean delisle, facebook, Facebook Chat, Facebook Messenger, social jack, social selling, social teaming Dean

Those of you who know me know what my team and I do for a living: we train and coach thousands of people globally on Social Selling through LinkedIn with our Social Jack Academy. We enjoy training enthusiastic professionals from Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and anything in between. What you may not know is that we also teach about Social Selling using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap Chat and others! We create and share what we call “Power Moves” which generate appointments or referrals — not just activity, and this is key.

Social Selling is not platform-dependent; sure, our friends at LinkedIn made it famous, and we love it in the B2B space, but remember we see your Social Team as people connected to you, not only on LinkedIn. So let’s cover three quick easy power moves, and if you want more we will happily oblige!

Home page scan – or as we love to call it, UNE (Ultimate Network Event).

What does this mean? When you log into any Social Network, we tell you “think of it like you’re at an event” Pretty easy, right? Facebook is a gathering of people who are talking, networking, doing business, sharing personal info, but this is a gathering just the same. When you log in you might see some people you want to talk to and some you don’t; remember, you only need to talk to those you want. If you see a lot of people who annoy you, you chose not to connect to them. You can easily optimize this by either unfriending them (don’t worry, they do not get notified) or quieting them, unfollowing them (you will stay connected, but not their posts), or hiding the post. For me, that’s too much work; I either unfriend or unfollow. And this is just an example, I am not unfollowing my cousin!

Let’s do the Home Page Scan, it’s super easy. Scan your page for an ideal contact, and then simply “Like” or “Comment”; remember, it makes them feel good and counts as a contact with that person. Their network will also see the relationship, so if there are other targets in that network, they will see you, too. Then, if you decide to share with your network, they’ll love you even more. You know this because you know how it makes you feel. The key here is that if you are really working the relationship, then make sure you have the intent to get an appointment after the exchange. We recommend having two social media exchanges and then taking the conversation off-line (call, text, message, etc.). Which takes us to our next cool power move!

2. The Chat Hook – With NEW Facebook AI personal assistant

The ‘chat’ function is on the right side; on Facebook they call it “Messenger”. We like “Chat” because the intent is to be more casual and social, less business-like. The cool thing is that even if the person is not online, they will get notified when they are. What’s more, if they have notifications on their phone turned on, they’ll see it on the phone. You can also use the new messenger AI personal assistant to set reminders for each other; this is a NEW feature to remind people to connect every few days or weeks, for example. Then you both get a reminder to catch up and connect, which has a much more social feel. So remember the ultimate goal is the get the appointment, so jump on it when you have can, keep it casual and social like below.

For more cool power moves like this, remember to head to Social Jack, it’s free at the point of this article, however that will end August 1st, so jump on quick.

Remember if you are new in sales or an expert, there are people on the other side of the click, not bots or icons, these are people, just talk to them and decide when to connect for that meeting, build relationship and jump to the referrals (in our training we show more detail on this). Watch for more blogs on power moves, and of course we have over 200 videos in our Social Jack Resource Center. You can access our Resource Center by signing up for our Basic Social Jack Account, which can be found under the pricing tab on the Social Jack Homepage.

See you online very soon!

Jul 2017

Personal Branding – A Great Start to your Social Selling Journey!

As you begin to delve into social selling, know that it grows over time, so it’s not an

Personal Branding – A Great Start to your Social Selling Journey!

Branding, Business, Social Selling dean delisle, linkedin, personal branding, social jack, social selling Dean

As you begin to delve into social selling, know that it grows over time, so it’s not an instant process. In fact, in our training course, we go into 4 hours of building your brand. However, we know people are anxious to get started, and there are some quick steps to move into what we call the “personal branding of you” that we use in our Social Jack Social Selling Course. It’s a perfect framework to get started, and we think you’ll find these suggestions useful!

1. Know or define your authentic self (your story)

2. Know your ideal target

3. Identify relevant keywords

4. Update all online profiles and websites

5. Engage in relevant online conversations

Know or Define Your Authentic Self (Your Story)

Knowing your story is critical, and it is perfectly okay to start with a draft and adjust it along the way. Some people wait years to even start; the key is to pick a point and simply begin. Find some trusted allies that will provide feedback and even some subject matter experts to help you as well. People are very willing to help. You might also have some colleagues you work with that might have gone before you. Ask yourself this question: “What do you want to be known for?” Craft a short narrative, typically 300-500 words, this will help you stay on point. Catch yourself, you will want to tack things on as you go, make sure they are relevant. Stay targeted.

Identify Relevant Keywords that will represent you

When writing and building profiles and bios, we look at the story, we analyze the target audience, then we determine which words people would use to find you on the internet, how you want to be found. Sometimes the words are not always what you would choose; however, they are what people would use to find you. We have a whole course you can reference, for free, in our Basic Social Jack Account to go deeper into this topic. Keywords and phrases are typically made up of 1 to 3 words. The ideal profile has 10 keyword phrases, but it is okay to start with 5 if needed to get out of the gate. Once you have them, weave them into your story. We ask you do this after you draft your story so you can flow with your ideas before worrying about keywords.

Know Your Ideal Target

Think about your ideal audience, the people you want to attract and who you ideally want to do business with. This should be at the level of knowing industry, title, type of company, geographic locations, size of organization, years in business, whatever matters most to you. This can be tough for many of us as we sometime want to keep adding to our story; however, the tighter we make this, the better our story will be, and it will take less effort to generate new business or advance your career.

Update All Online Profiles and Websites

First and foremost, even if you do no go into social selling or career advancement, you should do this next step at least once a month for your own protection. First, google your name and any variations. This could look like your name + your company name, etc. When you google your name, you are looking for things that you are NOT aware of and making sure that all social profiles, websites and content are in alignment with your new brand (story). Look over at least the first two pages of your search results. The first things that should appear are any social network accounts, websites and high-traction videos. Once you have these, simply replace your old profiles with your newest profile. You might want to delete any old invalid profiles.

Next, set up Google alerts with your name, brand names, company names, etc. Have Google alert you at the frequency you desire, we recommend daily; this little free tool will alert you when your name shows up on the internet. I do this for my entire family. You will need a Gmail account to set this up, that is also free.

Engage In Relevant Online Conversations

Anywhere online — blogs, video, pod casts, social media sites, online news articles — make sure you get your name and your brand attached to the content that’s most relevant to your story and that fits the keywords you want to be known for. This will take some practice. You can also engage (like, comment, share, retweet, etc.) with the content of others. This will give you reach and visibility into their social network. This can only be good for you. See the 7 likes and 3 comments below; on average, this will reach thousands of views in news feeds as people keep engaging. Keep playing with this and have fun, it’s networking right from your smartphone.

In Summary

Remember you can start this easily now with these first few steps; it only takes a few hours to get out of the gate. If you don’t like where you start, you can make simple adjustments as you grow, just remember your other profiles. Also, remember to do this with others; you are not alone and nor should you be. If you need further resources, check our Free Resource Center at Social Jack. You can access our Free Resource Center by signing up for a Basic Social Jack Account; there are worksheets and classes available currently or contact us for a promotion code depending on the date you’re reading this.

We will see you and your story online!

Feb 2015

Who is Your Social Competition? You Might Be Surprised! by Dean DeLisle

Who is Your Social Competition? You Might Be Surprised! By Dean DeLisle When we are looking

Who is Your Social Competition? You Might Be Surprised!

By Dean DeLisle

When we are looking at organizations we get called into three primary areas with our Social Jack™ Training Programs, Relationship Marketing, Social Selling or Career Advancement. One common theme is that all areas are not only looking to excel in their area and hit their goals, but they have a strong desire to know their social competition, once they know they have social competition!

The first competitor is probably the most obvious, it’s them. They many times are in their own way, they either are holding back from two primary reasons, fear or they hold on to the wrong social network (of people). What we see is that they have fear. They fear of knowing their true identity, what to do or say and who should they connect with among others. So they simply play small or hold back, which means they are in their own way! The second part of this is that they have the wrong network of people, this at the core can be fatal. Even organization construct very unproductive social networks and forget the target customers and partners, so we often have to reorganize out of the gate more than not.

Relationship Marketing Competitors

Your competition here are all the prospect and customers out there on your social network platforms, and in your databases. Are you holding their attention over the competition? We also see the competition look like content and platforms such as websites, landing pages and micro sites.

Social Selling Competitors

This one might be the most obvious depending on the organization. These are also prospects and customers, however they might be in control of your accounts execs, relationship managers, customer service or no one. As an organization it’s your duty to provide structure and training to your sales force, set guidelines, boundaries and a solid attack plan to form an intentional social network so the competition can’t penetrate.

Career Advancement Competitors

Flat out this is where you are in competition with your peers and can be tricky depending on the culture. We see this from two angles the inside out and the outside in. So if you are on the inside, its best to network with your peers and really work together for each other. Unfortunately many cultures don’t allow this so they tend to breed a protective environment and dictate survival of the fittest wins and this can be unproductive and harmful to growth in most cases. It is so much better to approach this from a position of authenticity and relationship. From the outside, it’s great to be in this mode to penetrate the walls of a corporation and take out someone who is in competition for a position you desire. Then remember to shift once you get on the inside, be the thought leader here!

In my next blog on this I will get into how to really take out the competition and what we see as our best techniques used by our Social Jack™ students. Social Jack™ was developed by Dean DeLisle and his team at Forward Progress in response to an overwhelming demand for their social media training and development workshops, which are delivered both in person and online. With SocialJack.com, clients can select their professional destination, map out a plan, and access the coaching and training needed to support them to that destination. They will develop the skills they need to build and manage the social networks required on their journey.

Want to take your strategy to the next level? Join us on Feb 10th – 11am CST: Social Jack™ hosts “LinkedIn – How to Knock Out Your Social Competition”

Are you wondering why some people are generating new business from LinkedIn and you're not? Or, maybe why your competition is getting in front of your current clients? Join our webinar and learn how to use 5 steps to take out your competition and create new business. Register Here

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IMPAC 2017 – INFORMS Midwest Practice of Analytics Conference

Location: University of Notre Dame, Chicago Campus – 224 S. Michigan Avenue (2nd Floor), Chicago IL 60604

We also want to acknowledge all sponsors that are supporting this event:

#1 – Pick your niche or focus

#2 – Subscribe and Monitor The Competition

#3 – Define Your Social Channels

#4 – Look like a thought leader (a.k.a. Social Influencer)

#5 – Turn on your content machine – remember your focus!

In Summary – you are an influencer – time for the next level!

Power Move #1 – Plan Your Production

Power Move #2 – Talk to Your Audience

Power Move #3 – C.T.A. – Call to Action

Summary

Who is Your Social Competition? You Might Be Surprised!