Happy 89th Birthday To My Pup Pup

There is no person in this world that I am more inspired by than my grandfather.  He is the best person that I know and I’m absolutely thrilled that he is healthy, happy, active and loving life at age 89.  One of the most important things that I learn from him everyday is to make the absolute most out of life – at 89 he is going to the gym, going out at night, meeting new people, learning new things and always surrounding himself around great people.  Very few 29 year olds can say they do those things consistently!!

Among his many accomplishments are raising and putting his two amazing daughters through college, being an incredible Grandfather, being the oldest employee in the history of our school district, volunteering his time weekly at our church and being one of the most well known and respected people in our community.  He truly is an inspiration to us all!

Happy Birthday Pup – you are the best!

How to Measure Social Media’s Effectiveness

You’ve heard that social media works, you have set up some accounts for your business and have even seen a few results; the problem is, how do you measure the true effectiveness of social media?  There are many different ways and it really depends on what your objective is with your social media strategy.  You might be trying to increase attendance at events, attract new clients or simply inform your existing clients of the latest happenings in your business.  Regardless of what your objective is, here are some of the different ways to measure your effectiveness with social media:

• LINKS – How many websites are linking to you?
• COMMENTS – How many people are commenting on your blog posts and statuses?
• REVENUE – How many revenue have you brought in to your business through social media?
• FRIENDS/FOLLOWERS – How many people have engaged with you on your accounts?
• REFERRALS GENERATED – How many new referrals have come your way through social media?
• WEBSITE/BLOG PAGE VIEWS – How many views and unique views are you receiving?  How long are they staying on your page, which pages are they viewing and how many are contacting you?
• GOOGLE RANK – When you search for yourself, your business or someone who does what you do, what page are you showing up on?  Are your social media accounts showing up on these searches?
• TESTING – Does one headline lead to more sales than another?  Are people more likely to engage with you on one blog subject than others?

Let us know if we can help you measure any of these statistics and show you what they mean for your specific business.

College Success Tip – Plan The Perfect Schedule

Part of being efficient with your time means planning out the perfect schedule.  You are allowed to take whatever classes you want, as long as the combination allows you to meet all of your requirements for graduation.  It is important to plan a schedule to fit your desires, rather than letting your schedule dictate your life.  If you want an easier schedule in the Fall, then save your harder classes for the winter.  If you plan to ski on weekends all Winter, then you may want to take a tougher class load in the Fall.

You should have a very good idea of which classes you need to take so that you can graduate.  Sit down with your academic advisor and map this out semester by semester.  Sure it may change a little along the way, but at least you will have a good idea of what you need to take and can build a schedule around the lifestyle that you want as a student.  You may also want to make your senior year easier than some of the others – you will want the extra time for student activities, a great social life and either conducting your career search or filling out applications for graduate school.

Going back to the importance of time management, make sure to strategically schedule your classes in as small of a window as possible.  For instance, take all of your classes Monday – Thursday and give yourself Friday off.  Another idea would be to make sure that you schedule all of your classes between 8am-Noon or 10am-2pm so that you are in “class mode” as little as possible.  Then you can study before or after and have the evenings for activities, relaxing and going out.

The Bottom Line: You are paying good money to attend the school of your choice – you deserve to plan the perfect schedule to fit your needs.  Condense your classes into as small of a time frame as possible, map out each semester well in advance and try to give yourself a break senior year…. you will be glad you did!

How Are Olympic Advertisers Using Social Media?

Many advertisers in this years winter games will be using social media more than ever before.  Coca-Cola estimated that 100 million saw its Super Bowl ads, but online interactions with those ads now number over 500 million.  They anticipate that this years Olympics will be no different.  Here is a look at the social media plans for four Olympic sponsors:

Visa – 40% of its marketing funds will be digital this year and they have created a YouTube Channel to showcase their ads before they hit the TV airwaves.

Coke – Every piece of their advertising will have a social media component, such as their sponsored athletes tweeting throughout the games and a virtual snowball fight to share on social media.

McDonald’s – They have created a virtual scavenger hunt with the winner receiving a free trip to the 2010 London Games.

GE – They have pulled together 25 health experts to tweet about getting healthier and will use the Olympics to officially launch this initiative.

For more information on how marketers are using social media for their Olympic advertising, click HERE.

College Success Tip – Get Involved and Become a Leader

Getting involved in campus activities and organizations is not a good idea – it is a great idea and 100% essential for your success as a student, then eventually as a professional in the workplace.  Student organizations will give you the following:

• Real world experience that you cannot receive in the classroom
• A great boost to your resume
• Interesting stories to share while being interviewed for internships and careers
• Will force you to become much better at time management
• Access to organizations’ advisors and alumni
• Much more!

So what types of organizations are available?  This obviously depends on the size of your campus, but pretty much anything you can image will be available to you. Groups can be fraternities/sororities, academic advisors groups, intramural sports, student senate, the university alumni association, political groups and many others.

How do you pick the right organizations to join?  Simply figure out what you are passionate about – what do you enjoy doing?  What activities will help you learn the skills and get the experience necessary to be successful in the real world?  You may choose one activity that is really fun and another one that will focus on the field you wish to get into after school.  Make sure to get involved in multiple organizations and that they serve you in a variety of ways (such as personal and professional growth, rather than joining three organizations that are all social based).
Initially, you may not be a leader in the organization, but you need to strive to have a leadership position as quickly as possible.  If you are going to be part of an organization, you might as well be a leader and get the most you can out of the experience.  This will be a great way to separate yourself from the “average” people.  The experiences you receive from being a leader is the kind of real world stuff that will earn you a great career opportunity and give you a head start over others after college.

The Bottom Line: You are missing out on a huge opportunity if you don’t get involved in at least two organizations on campus.  You will have a great time, meet new people, add to your resume, learn and become a better person who is more capable of getting off to a fast start after graduation.

Awesome Story From Dennis “Mr. Belding” Haskins

Just heard a great story from “Mr. Belding” that I wanted to share with everyone.  As you may know, Dennis travels around the country speaking to colleges about his time on Saved by the Bell and the lessons he feels are important for college students as they strive to be successful in and out of the classroom.  A group of four freshman at the University of Texas in Austin, TX heard that Dennis spoke at colleges and wanted to bring him to UT.  Their friends laughed at them and told them it was stupid and impossible.  The four freshman pulled together $75 and officially formed a student organization called the “Bayside Preservation Society”.  Once again, their friends laughed at them and told them it was stupid and impossible to bring “Mr. Belding” to campus.  Within four months, they were able to raise the appropriate funds to bring Dennis to campus – the result was an audience of 950 people and a huge success for the four freshman and their new student organization.  The lesson is so simple, yet most people don’t get it – when you put your mind and heart towards something, you can accomplish just about anything.  So the next time you have a crazy idea, just go for it!   Worst case scenario is that it fails, but you still learn a lot…  Best case scenario is that you accomplish something awesome!!

Using the “V-C-P” in Social Media

If you are a business owner in the valley who enjoys receiving referrals and would like to learn how to generate significantly more, one of the absolute best resources available to you is Victoria Trafton, who owns the Referral Institute of Arizona.  Victoria has a variety of classes and programs that show entrepreneurs how to more efficiently grow their business through referral marketing.  One of the main concepts she teaches at her introductory classes is the idea of building Visibility in your target market, then earning Credibility among those folks, and finally, reaching Profitability from those activities.  This certainly doesn’t happen instantaneously, but it is the most effective way to strategically build your network so that you aren’t just running around town trying to “close deals” with new people every week for the rest of your working life.

As I build social media strategies for businesses, I always educate our clients on this concept.  Regardless of whether we are talking about face-to-face networking or building a network through social media, this concept is the most effective way to build, nurture and grow your network.

Let’s take a look at “V-C-P” in social media:

VISIBILITY – To be visible, you must be out there.  In other words, you need to be searchable and visible to your target market.  You need to utilize the right keywords in all of your copy and have a search engine optimization expert on your team.  You must also have the appropriate accounts set up, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, a Blog and videos on YouTube.  (Reaching more people = More opportunities for your business)

CREDIBILITY – Once you have begun attracting the right people to your social media sites (your target prospects), you must quickly establish credibility with them.  Some of the ways you can do this are by using a professional looking picture of yourself, having your complete profile filled out, being on all of the major social media sites, consistently updating your profiles, interacting with “friends”, receiving comments on your posts, being truthful and genuine, not selling your product constantly and many others.  When we do our initial consultation with clients, we often see really great people making mistakes they aren’t aware of because they were never taught the proper way to build credibility online.

PROFITABILITY – What is a new client worth to your business?  What if every week you received two new clients that found you through social media?  This is the beautiful part of social media – once you are visible and credible, you will attract new business just because you are out there and have a powerful message.

Hopefully this was helpful as you build or refine a social media strategy for your business.  There is an unbelievable amount of opportunity out there; if you don’t take advantage of it now, your competition will.  Best of luck building “V-C-P” for your business!

Why Your Career Search Must Be Done The Right way, Not The Easy Way

Why Your Career Search Must Be Done The Right way, Not The Easy Way

The reason this process needs to be done the right way, not the easy way, is that it has such a large impact on both your career and life.  Finding the perfect opportunity earlier in your professional career will accelerate your journey to success.  The sooner you are able to find the right situation, the sooner you can have the experience and knowledge under your belt to achieve success.  Refuse to be like most other young professionals who are too lazy during the search process and settle for something that will not make them happy or allow them to grow.  We all have to earn an income, so take the time to find the right opportunity that you enjoy, constantly challenges you, teaches you and will take you to where you want to be.

Young Professionals – Establish a Vision of Your Future

As a young professional, it is absolutely critical that you develop a vision of your successful future.  You must have a clear idea of what you want your future to look like and then you can create a specific plan to get you there.  Nothing is more important as a young professional than knowing where you want to be in the future; aligning your actions to this vision will allow you to reach your goals and dreams.

The objective of this exercise is very simple – you will think about what your successful future looks like through your eyes on this day.  It has already been discussed that often as people get older they give up on the dreams they had when they were younger and become complacent.  By writing down your vision and aligning your daily actions to it, you will not allow your dreams to diminish as you get older and life becomes more complicated.  This exercise will force you to dream big, something that very few people in this world are capable of doing.

Read through the following and write down your answers to each of the questions.  Use these questions to help you clarify what your successful future looks like:

•    Do you want to start a family?

•    Will you ever support anyone financially (such as helping parents or putting children through college)?  If so, who will you be supporting?  How do you feel about this?

•    Do you want to actively participate in your religion?  If so, how would you like to be involved?

•    Are there any organizations you would like to volunteer for?  If so, which ones and when?  How many hours do you want to spend volunteering each week?

•    When do you plan on retiring?  How much a month, in today’s dollars, will you need each month to live on?

•    What type of home do you live in?  What does it look like?  How big is it?  How does it compare to the other homes in the neighborhood?  What are your neighbors like?

•    How many really close friends do you have?  How often do you talk to them?

•    How often do you travel?  Where do you go?

•    Who are the most important people in your life?  How close are you to them?

•    What kind of a car do you drive?

•    What will you need to accomplish personally in order to feel successful?

•    What are you doing to have a positive impact in your community?

•    Are you being financially responsible?

•    How important is it for you to have what you feel is a great career?

•    What are you doing each day to learn more about your profession?

•    How important is it to you that others perceive you to be successful?

•    Would you rather be unhappy making a lot of money or love your career making much less money?

•    Would you rather be unchallenged and bored while making a lot of money or making a lot less money while learning a lot and constantly being challenged?

•    Do you ever want to own your own business?  If so, when?

•    Will you go back to school to get an advanced degree/designation?  If so, what will you study, when will you do it and where will you do it?

•    How much money each year do you need to make in order to be happy?

•    What are you truly passionate about?  Are you doing this each day?  If not, what is holding you back?

•    What do you need to accomplish professionally in order to feel successful?

•    Who are you mentoring?  Who is mentoring you?

As you read answered the questions above, did you begin to have a clearer idea of what your vision of success may look like?  I strongly encourage you to take those answers and write a few paragraphs on how you visualize your successful future.  Make sure to write it down in present tense; for instance, you might say “I have three children, a great wife, a successful business and….”.  The more specific you are with your vision, the easier it will be for you to reach it because you will constantly be visualizing it while making any important decision.  Get started on your vision immediately – the sooner you start, the sooner you will reach your vision!

College Success Tip – Get Practical Experience

College students around the country have complained seemingly forever that nothing they learn in the classroom applies to the real world.  The good news is that if you feel that way, doing something about it is easy.  Your campus, without a doubt, will provide you with thousands of ways to get practical experience that will help you succeed in the real world.  You can do an internship on campus, be a leader in an organization or even volunteer locally.  Volunteer activities can include coaching a youth sport, tutoring kids, teaching a class or spending time with the elderly.  Any of these activities are better than simply going to class, going home and sitting in front of the television.  The more real world experience you can get, the better off you will be when you graduate.

Your grade point average means very little unless you are going to graduate school, and having a college diploma is nothing special anymore.  Having practical, real world experience while you are still in college is the best way to separate yourself from everyone else.  This experience will give you the edge that you need in order to be successful at a young age.

The Bottom Line: Everything that you do as a college student is intended to prepare you to leave campus and successfully enter the real world.  Gaining practical experience will make you smarter, build your resume, give you more interesting things to talk about during interviews, and will give you a better chance to make an immediate impact in your career.