by Caroline Leach | Oct 16, 2019 | Careers, Learning, Social Media
photo by istock.com/akinbostanci
What question do people ask the most about social media?
This is a busy speaking month for me, and I’ve been reflecting on themes in questions. I’ve been talking about personal brands and building careers and companies through social media.
What am I hearing across a diverse group of audiences? What do people ask in the Q&A following my talks? What do they want to know in one-on-one chats?
This month includes talks with CEOs affiliated with the Community Associations Institute, and community members at an author’s panel. It includes employees at Ericsson North America, and employees and guests at Otter Media‘s We Gather women’s leadership event. At the end of the month, I’ll speak with students at the USC Rotaract Club.
What people often ask is a form of this question: what’s the best way to share professional updates on social media without sounding too self-promotional?
Said another way: what’s a good approach to being active on social media professionally without coming across as arrogant and turning people off?
We’ve all probably seen people in our social media feeds — whether it’s LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter — who make it all about themselves. Sometimes it can be tempting to tap the “mute” button and make those posts go away.
Yet, if we don’t share about our professional accomplishments, there are downsides. We run the risk of being underestimated in our abilities. We may be overlooked for future opportunities. We may not be able to make the impact that we want in our work.
The happy medium: a social media trifecta
So what’s the solution? It lies in a formula I call the social media trifecta. In every post you share about your work, strive to balance three elements of your content.
- First, share what you did and why you’re excited about it.
- Second, share how your team and your colleagues contributed.
- And third, share what’s special about your organization that enabled your contribution.
With this approach, you highlight your own accomplishments in an engaging way. You also showcase the work of others — something good leaders do frequently. And you’re a good brand ambassador for your organization, in an authentic way for you.
In addition, offer something of value to your network. What insight or idea could you include that would help them in their work?
Here’s an example. Laura Ramirez and her colleagues at Ericsson created a fabulous Career Learning Day. Workshops, activities, and employee groups engaged colleagues in career development. My keynote speech included 3 questions to help people create a personal brand statement and 4 steps to build a personal brand. Afterwards, I posted pictures about the event and the great people at Ericsson. My post included bullets for the questions and the steps in my post. People who weren’t there could also benefit from the key concepts.
Who does this well? Here are a few …
Who do you know who does this well? Please share and tag people in the comments. And maybe it’s you!
by Caroline Leach | May 31, 2019 | Social Media
Photo of Cynthia Dillard, Kathie Frasquillo and Mallika Siegel by Jessica Sterling
Social media is in the headlines a lot these days. And not always in a good way.
As I shared in my TEDx talk this spring about lifelong learning, social media gets a bad rap. It saps our attention. It makes us depressed. It polarizes our world.
Scrolling through our Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn feeds can be a trip down the rabbit hole of comparison hell. None of us can ever measure up to the carefully curated feeds of people and brands we see every day.
Unless …
… we remember that the only competition is with ourselves.
… we remember never to compare others’ outsides to our insides.
… and most importantly, we remember a great power of social media.
And that’s the power to lift others up. To rejoice in the accomplishments of others. And to use our voice on social media to amplify their good deeds.
On Administrative Professionals’ Day this spring, I was inspired by a post from Anne Chow, a senior leader at AT&T and someone who always inspired me when I worked there. She lauded her administrative assistant and how important she was to the her and the team.
That made me reflect. I had the good fortune to work personally with two exceptionally talented assistants, Kathie Frasquillo and Nancy Takahashi. And I worked peripherally with others, including Cynthia Dillard and Mallika Siegel.
And that made me remember I had some great pictures of them from my corporate farewell event (thank you, Jessica Sterling). It was the perfect confluence of factors to post a thank-you message on LinkedIn.
Seeing the community of comments and appreciation that sprung out of it was truly gratifying. What a boost for all involved. Suddenly, my day felt brighter, and hopefully others felt the same.
It was the putting into action one of the concepts in the book I published this spring, What Successful People Do in Social Media: A Short Guide to Boosting Your Career.
In my book, I talk about the social media trifecta. What’s that? It’s bucketing your social media content into thirds:
- The first one is sharing what you’re doing in the work world.
- The second one is amplifying the great things your team or your colleagues are doing.
- And the third one is being a brand ambassador for your organization.
In this way, you don’t over index on promoting yourself and potentially turning people off in the process. You build goodwill with your colleagues and your team by highlighting their good works. And where it makes sense you share the good work of your employer.
As spring soon gives way to summer, I reflected on some of the social media posts that made me rejoice in what colleagues and friends are doing ..
My former colleague and inclusion mentor L. Michelle Smith launched the popular The Culture Soup Podcast and embarked on an inspiring series of speaking events.
My friend Corii Berg boldly stepped into the president role of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors, following other inspirational leaders Michael Felix and Jaime Lee.
My former boss Fiona Carter is now leading the #SeeHer movement to bring equality to and eliminate bias in the way women and girls are portrayed in advertising and media.
My friends Tom Henkenius, Austin Maddox, Madeline Lindsay, Allegra Guitierrez, Briana Latter, Stephanie Corrigan, Danielle Harvey Stinson and others celebrated their graduations from USC.
My former colleagues Sarah Groves, John Stancliffe and others continue to inspire me with their social media innovation in the B2B space and beyond.
My students in the social media program at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising are all doing amazing things as they get ready to graduate in June.
My friend Tina Quinn published a fabulous book this spring called Invisible Things. Tina coached me through some difficult times a few years ago and she inspires me every day.
My former colleague TeNita Ballard is doing so much to make the world a more inclusive place, especially for veterans and people with disabilities.
My former colleague Charles Miller keeps me and others up to speed with beautiful scenes of New York on his Instagram grid.
And an amazing thing has happened just as I’ve reflected on all of these special people and what they’re doing in the world. I feel uplifted. I feel inspired. I feel happy for them.
And the way for me to share that feeling is by engaging with their social media content, by liking and commenting and sharing their good deeds.
This spring has been difficult in many ways. Yes, it was the thrill of a lifetime to give a TEDx talk and publish a book and help my husband Kevin with the launch of his new restaurant this summer (Pacific Standard Prime in Redondo Beach, for those in So Cal).
But it’s been challenging shepherding my son through his last few months, weeks and days of high school. Like seniors all over the country, he’s beyond ready to move on to the next thing.
In his case, it’s a bit of a different path. He’s been “scrimming” (practicing) with two esports teams in League of Legends. Now when he’s sitting on the couch with his headset on playing a video game, he’s actually doing a job and getting his first paychecks.
Our world is changing so quickly, it can be hard to keep up. But if the happiness I feel right now in thinking about friends and colleagues is any indication, one way for you to find happiness is to look for the good in others and amplify it in social media.
by Caroline Leach | Nov 27, 2018 | Social Media
iStock.com/kieferpix
When you’re trying to write a blog post that people will love, sometimes you can’t fit everything into the ideal length of 600 to 800 words. What can you do? Break it into a series of shorter posts.
Part 1 of this topic covered themes, points of view, headlines, opening words, and the ideal length. Here’s part 2 covering creating visual interest, engaging others, weaving in data and research, ending strong, editing your post, and reading other blogs for ideas and inspiration.
Make it visually interesting
Include photos, videos and/or infographics to make your post eye catching. You can also spice up your text by using subheads, bullets, numbered lists and white space. My rule is to keep paragraphs at four lines or less to make them reader friendly.
Use formatting options in platforms like LinkedIn to draw attention to call-out quotes by way of bold italics. You can also sprinkle images and/or videos throughout your post for visual interest.
Engage others
Consider how you can weave others into your post. If you can quote someone or highlight a best practice that they do, this rounds out your post with a variety of perspectives. This provides supporting points for your overall message.
It also potentially increases interest in and engagement with your post. The people you’ve included may be inclined to comment on and share your post. You can also mention them as you promote your post in various social networks, so they’re sure to know you’ve included them.
Bring in the data
Cite interesting facts and research in your post, and link to them. This anchors your post in data and supports your key points.
Influencer Neil Patel, for example, cited research that “marketers who blog consistently will acquire 126% more leads than those who do not.” If that data point doesn’t convince you of the value of blogging, I don’t know what will.
Be sure you’ve read the full link and are comfortable with its contents before linking to it. Why? Because every bit of content you create, like, or link to reflects on you and your professional image.
End strong
Your ending is almost as important as your lead. Here you want to spur your reader into action. What will they do differently as a result of reading your post? How have they accomplished what you talk about in your post? What questions do they have and will they leave a comment?
Career blogger Penelope Trunk had great advice in her online course, Reach Your Goals through Blogging. She advises to “write and write until you find the thing that surprises you.”
Edit, edit, edit
Set your draft aside and come back to it later, whether it’s the next day or the next hour. Read it with fresh eyes. Ask yourself if the piece flows appropriately from one idea to the next.
Look for areas that might need more explanation for your readers. Edit out repeated words (always a challenge for me) and unnecessary phrases. Make sure all the links work properly.
Read blogs
Study what types of blog posts and articles appeal to you. Ask yourself what specifically engages you. I love reading posts from many of my former colleagues in the corporate world – Anne Chow, Mo Katibeh, L. Michelle Smith, John Stancliffe and Jason Dunn, to name a few.
Sometimes it’s the things you don’t want to write, or that seem too personal, are what people love the most. A few recent examples on the more personal side are A Love Letter to the Amazing People I’ve Worked With and my corporate farewell remarks in Are You Doing What You Really Want to Do?
I almost didn’t write my post about 7 Things Not to Do in LinkedIn. At the time, I didn’t think I’d be adding anything new to the existing body of knowledge. But I wrote it because someone left a comment asking for it. And it became one of my most-read pieces.
That’s my moment of surprise. Sometimes the topic that doesn’t seem exciting to you will be of great interest to your network. If you look at the analytics of all your posts, you may find your own surprises to inform your upcoming posts.
What other ways do you write posts that people will love?
by Caroline Leach | Oct 24, 2018 | Learning, Social Media
iStock.com/momnoi
Do you give speeches, talks and presentations as part of your work?
Have you wondered where to share them on your LinkedIn profile?
It’s a bit of a conundrum since there isn’t a specific section for speeches and talks at this time. But that gives you options, depending on how much you want to emphasize the speaking you do.
There are a few starting places. You could showcase them in your summary, as part of a specific job, or as a separate job listing as a speaker.
Another option is to use one of the Accomplishments sections. In this area, you can provide content for:
- Honors & Awards
- Publications
- Certifications
- Projects
- Patents
- Test Scores
- Organizations
- Courses
- Languages
At this point in my career, I hope no one would be interested in my GRE or GMAT scores, even if I could remember what they were. I’m still struggling to learn Spanish. And I’m not anticipating a patent any time soon. So test scores, languages and patents are off the table.
But speaking engagements?
In reflecting on this year alone, I realized I’ve given a talk at least once a month – at mentoring circles, at a legal conference, in town hall meetings, at a women’s leadership event, in a video series, at a sales and service center, in a social media podcast, and so on.
My LinkedIn profile was missing this important aspect of my work. In updating it, I discovered some tips that may be helpful to you in determining the best ways to share your own speeches.
A bit of research led me to a decision point between Publications and Projects.
I already had one project, Social Media for Innovation with Michael Ambrozewicz, Thyda Nhek Vanhook and Gerry Ledford. It was a series of case studies and innovation experiments on engaging employees and customers through social media. It was clearly not a speech. So there would be some cognitive dissonance to overcome in including speeches alongside this project.
That’s where the dictionary came in handy.
A publication according to Dictionary.com is “(1) the act of publishing a book, periodical, map, piece of music, engraving or the like; (2) the act of bringing before the public; announcement.”
And publish means to “(1) issue for sale or distribution to the public; (2) issue publicly the work of; (3) submit online, as to a message board or blog; (4) announce formally or officially; (5) make publicly or generally known.”
The sense of bringing something before the public felt analogous to giving a speech and sharing information publicly.
How about a project? It’s “(1) something that is contemplated, devised or planned; (2) a large or major undertaking, especially one involving considerable money, personnel or equipment; (3) a specific task of investigation, especially in scholarship.”
In a stretch, a speech could be considered a project. But to me it feels more like a publication.
And the information fields for both areas in LinkedIn are very similar. One minor difference is a Publication lists an author or authors, and a Project lists a creator or creators. Also, the Project entry lets you identify which specific job or educational degree the work is associated with.
Ultimately it’s up to you which area to choose. The good news is you have options. And perhaps a future LinkedIn update will add a “Presentations” or “Speeches” section to Accomplishments, making this a moot point.
What’s a good way of choosing which speaking engagements to include in your profile? In my case, there were three criteria.
- Could it be shared publicly, i.e., was it not confidential or sensitive?
- How relevant was it to my current and future work?
- Was there a public link to the video or audio?
That’s what led me to add Publications entries with 5 talks so far this year, including as authors the people who interviewed me or produced the segment – Josh Ochs of the Smart Social Podcast, John Stancliffe who rebooted a Women in Technology video series, and Shelley Zalis who founded The Female Quotient.
And I’m excited about a few more talks in the queue.
On Monday, October 29, I’ll moderate a USC Annenberg Facebook live with alumni session on starting your own communications firm. These are learning sessions that Annenberg’s Leticia Lozoya creates a few times each year. In this one, business owners Maggie Habib, Tom Henkenius and Rebecca Meza will share an inside view of how to launch and grow your own company.
I’ve also been approached about giving a TEDx talk in spring 2019, speaking to professional associations, and talking about personal branding for women. The invitations often result from my presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media.
If you want to speak more to develop your career and your reputation as a thought leader in your field, consider adding your speeches to your LinkedIn profile and sharing your expertise through articles and posts.
You may be pleasantly surprised that you’ll be invited to talk about those subjects to audiences you care about.
Where do you share your speeches and talks in your LinkedIn profile?
by Caroline Leach | Jul 15, 2018 | Learning, Social Media
If social media is all about reciprocity, so is learning.
That’s what I learned from a recent visit at a sales and service center.
I got great ideas about leadership and service, plus inspiration from and admiration for a group of pros who serve customers every day. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own).
One of the things I love about my employer is the focus on employee resource groups, or ERGs. And I enjoy leading mentor circles with two of them – Women of AT&T and HACEMOS, the Hispanic and Latino group.
So when Shandria Alexander along with Norma Vega-Guadian from one of my mentor circles invited me to speak at their site during a career development week, I was excited to do it.
Was I ever in for a surprise. If you want to make someone feel welcome, here’s how to do it.
Shandria and Norma met me outside the front door when I arrived, along with their leadership colleagues Louie Lewis and Joe Landazabal.
As soon as they opened the door, I was greeted by the leadership team singing, dancing and clapping. Team members took pictures and videos to capture the moments. A banner welcomed me.
And most amazingly, Shandria had my own bitmoji created as Social Media Woman!
It’s now in a visible spot for me every day, as an ever-present reminder that we all have super powers. We can all solve problems. We can all make our workplace better every day.
As we toured the site, the energy and enthusiasm of the team were palpable. The natural sunlight, the fun summer decor and the festive balloon awards for sales milestones make it an engaging place.
Next I met with participants in the company’s leadership development program. They shared their best customer experience tips.
- One person focused on energy, standing up during calls and smiling broadly so his enthusiasm comes through to customers.
- Another person talked about how he strives to bring positivity to the work environment so everyone can do their best work.
- And yet another shared how her study of theater enables her to coach people to connect better with customers and their needs.
Next up was video time with Victor Rosales. He completed his degree in communications and public relations last year, and he’s putting it to great use.
In his recording and editing studio, he has perfectly positioned reminders on the walls to remind people to relax, breathe and have fun on camera.
Victor designed a true-or-false Q&A about social media for career building. And Shandria followed it up with some rapid-fire questions of her own.
The day wrapped up with lunch with the site’s leadership team. What an inspiring group of people. This is a team of people flying in formation, seamlessly passing the baton to each other and bringing their strengths together.
- They talked about getting to know people – their families, their work and their fun – both employees and customers.
- They talked about asking employees what they think and encouraging them to solve problems, rather than simply providing an answer.
- They talked about accountability, and asking team members if the response they gave to solving a problem would be the same one they’d give in an interview. Great question!
With both groups, we talked about social media for career building.
For starters, why is this important? There are three big reasons, from my recent research …
- Building a professional network over time
- Learning continually about your field, your company and your industry, and
- Sharing your knowledge to become a thought leader.
Once you’re clear on the “why,” the “what” takes the form of 10 tips …
1. Follow your company’s social media policy. Make sure you read, understand and follow your company’s policy. Disclose your affiliation with the company. Don’t ever share confidential or propriety information.
A good practice is to keep your posts positive and upbeat. When in doubt about whether something is appropriate for sharing, ask someone such as your supervisor or a social media team member, or simply don’t post.
2. Decide what you want to be known for. Who do you want to be? What is your personal brand? Whether you actively define your personal brand and act in accordance with it or not, you have a brand.
Marketing strategist and author Dorie Clark has an easy way to find out what it is. Ask colleagues for three words that describe you, she advises. Look for patterns in their responses. Is that what you want to be known for? Or do you want to change it? This will help define your content areas of focus in social media.
3. Pick where to play. LinkedIn is the #1 place for professionals and is the nexus of your network. Twitter is for news, real-time events and thought leaderships in micro bursts — and the site I visited is establishing a terrific presence.
Instagram is on the rise for visual brand building. If you want to see people who are representing their professional lives well in Instagram, check out Sparkset App. Curated by Tiffany Frake, this account shows you amazing images of what people do in their careers.
4. Always be connecting. Your network is the community you build in social media. This is more important than ever. Why? Social media algorithms are always changing. Organic reach – the stuff you don’t pay for when you post – is declining. So having a community of committed people is important.
Start with the people in your contact list on your smartphone. Are you connected with all of them on LinkedIn? Following them on Twitter?
Whenever you send a LinkedIn invitation, always personalize it. That makes you more memorable and increases the likelihood your invitation will be accepted.
Scan your calendar each week and see if you’ll be meeting anyone new. You can visit their LinkedIn profile to get to know them in advance, and you can send them a personalized invitation to connect.
Did you join a new community group? How about a mentoring circle? Anytime you join a new group connect with the people in social.
5. Observe other’s content to see what works. Scroll through your LinkedIn home feed every day. See what content catches your eye and why. Look at the engagement – likes, comments and shares.
Many people are doing a great job documenting what they’re doing and what they’re working on (of course, only those things that can be shared publicly). Think about how you could document what you’re doing in the course of your day that would be interesting to your network.
Is a colleague getting an award? Is the team celebrating a win? Are you continuing your learning through courses or seminars? Those could all be topics to share.
6. Get to know leaders and colleagues. People you might not be able to spend a lot of time with are often accessible in social media. You can establish relationships by engaging with their content.
Go beyond liking it and post thoughtful comments. Build on their content by adding your point of view or asking a question. Share the content with your networks if it fits with the topics you focus on.
Just don’t go overboard and engage too much. Once a week is about right.
7. Mention and tag people. To expand the reach of content you post, @mention people who might be interested in it. That way, they’ll be notified of your post. They’re more likely to see it and engage with it.
Again, don’t go overboard and do this too much. One a week is about right.
8. Use hashtags. Use hashtags relevant to the content you post, so more people find it. At AT&T, we use #LifeatATT. And we use #ATTImpact when serving our communities. Your organization probably has its own hashtags.
And you can always create your own. My colleague John Stancliffe uses #KeepUpTheAwesome.
9. Analyze your analytics. Look at the analytics the various social platforms provide, to see which of your content is resonating the most with your network.
Beyond that, you can create and analyze your own data. I created a spreadsheet for deeper analysis of my weekly LinkedIn articles.
This led to discoveries about articles that got the most views and engagement. First, they answered important questions for people. Second, they combined personal knowledge and existing knowledge in new ways that only I could write about.
10. Experiment and learn. Try new things with your content. See how your network responds. Sometimes what you expect to get a lot of engagement WON’T, and vice versa.
For example, to test the data point that “it takes 20 LinkedIn posts every month to reach 60% of your audience,” I did an experiment. I posted content every weekday for a month to see what I’d learn. That post did well with almost 1,000 views.
Another time I was annoyed by immediate spam messages people sent me after I accepted their LinkedIn invitations.
So I started a list of “what not to do in LinkedIn.” Then I Googled the topic to see if I’d be covering new ground. It turns out, I wasn’t. So I wrote a different article. But I mentioned the “what not to do” piece I’d considered.
Jason Dunn left a comment and said he was interested in “what not to do.” So I posted it after all.
It’s my most viewed article to date, with 1,200 clicks. And I almost didn’t share it.
The lesson? Keep experimenting!
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