Learners are Earners

Y'all have heard that saying before right? Ask any top CEO and they will tell you that you have to not be too afraid to continue to learn new things. In the spirit of that particular sentiment (because who doesn't want to think like a CEO), I am continually looking for ways to educate myself on new topics, enhance my knowledge of topics important to me, and basically just keep my brainpower growing. Whether it's purchasing online training, attending webinars, reading books, or going to conferences, all of those activities feed not only my brain but my soul.

This past weekend, I attended CinchShare's Cinch Summit in Orlando, FL. This was the second year in a row I have attended, and they did not disappoint. They put on a great conference, with the sole focus of the event being various aspects of social media. We talked about everything from Facebook parties, to online recruiting, to Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Now granted, I probably knew more than the average attendee about these topics, just given the nature of what I do, but nevertheless, I still learned a couple of cool tricks. For example, I've been using CinchShare for years and I wasn't aware they'd added in functionality to schedule to Instagram. Sweet. Totally doing that now. I love anything that lets me work smarter not harder!

Kelly and I have been guest trainers for CinchShare before, and we have another training event coming up with them next week on 2/8 at 9pm eastern. The whole thing will take place on their Facebook page - come check it out - we'll be talking Facebook Customer Communities, which y'all know is a subject near and dear to our hearts. While you're there, check out some of their past trainings, there is a whole slew of useful stuff!!

30 Post Ideas for Your Business Page

Writing content is easy...said no one ever. Let's face it, we all get tired of trying to come up with new content all the time for all of our social media channels...customer groups, fan pages, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter...the list is endless. Sometimes we all need a little spark. Well, that's what we're offering up here, with a list of 30 different posts you can craft for your Facebook Business Pages. Now, you'll notice we didn't say "here's 30 posts, go post them." Nope, sorry, that's not how we roll. Over here at Successfully Social, we firmly believe that you need to make these things your own...put your own spin on, your own voice to...basically take these ideas and craft them to fit YOU and your business and your products. The whole cookie cutter plan might work in the (very) short term, but long term you need to discover your own style, we're just here to help that along a little.

So, with that in mind, take these ideas below, and couple them with our previous post on Your Roadmap to Business Page Engagement and make yourself a content plan for next month. I promise you, when you start doing these things on a regular basis, they really do become easier.

We would love to hear from you on what posts you're creating over on your business page - drop us a line here, or come play with us over on Facebook!

Connecting With Others On The Go

Relationship marketing is at the core how we build a strong, sustainable business. Advertising has changed dramatically, companies are putting their dollars into digital marketing. Not surprising as people can be tied to their phones but they are also happy to connect and do business with others that they know, like and trust.

As you go about your day in your local community do you really connect with others. Do you smile, ask questions, use people's name? Your local community is a gold mine of customers, hostesses, team members, referrals, every person on average can connect you to 300 more. Learning the skills of relationship marketing is truly a must in this business. The classic book "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie is a good read and education on how to successfully connect with others.

However, what I am talking about today is how to connect digitally with the people you meet. And it is so easy! Business cards are still a great tool for connection but having a digital connection is powerful as well. Connecting through Messenger as often as you can is an ideal way to be able to keep in touch with the people you meet. It's as easy as scanning their Messenger Code. Here's how:

From Home, tap your profile picture in the top left corner. Tap your picture at the top of the page. Tap My Code to let someone scan your code, or tap Scan Code to scan someone else's.

Once connected, you can continue the conversation. Think of messenger as digital conversations, not digital sales. Remember the lessons in Dale Carnegie's book!

You can also connect people directly to your public online events. You can create a QR code for these events and people can scan the code and join the event. Here are the steps:

If you're the host of a public event, you can create a QR code to promote your event.

To create a QR code:

Go to your event and click the three dots in the top right

Select Create QR Code

Click Download

These tools are a great way to connect through conversations in your community. Practice them today so you are ready to use these tools next time you leave the house.

If Facebook Were a Country....

So you may have heard, right at the end of June, Facebook reached the 2 billion user mark. Meaning if Facebook were a country, it would be the most populous in the world. After launching only 13 years ago, Facebook now serves 2 billion of the 7.5 billion people on the planet. And there is no end in sight on that growth.

Check out this chart, which can be found in an article from TechCrunch.com

So what does that mean to you, as a business person trying to do business in the land of Facebook? Well, frankly, first and foremost, if you're NOT doing business already on Facebook, you better start. Your competitors are there. Your customers are there. Heck, your customer's mama is there. Everyone is there. If you're not, you are missing the boat. BUT, as we always will tell you at Successfully Social, you better not go in there thinking you can be all business all the time and find that success you're looking for...

Above all else, Facebook is still SOCIAL. It is the perfect place to grow relationships...plant the seeds through your Facebook parties or networking in common interest groups, cultivate those relationships through Facebook Messenger or in your closed customer groups, and ultimately watch those relationships bloom as those customers come back to you, book their own parties, and even become (gasp) FRIENDS of yours outside of the business relationship. That's what this whole crazy Facebook thing is all about.

Look for a future post where we dive deeper into the different areas of Facebook...your personal wall, your business fan page, your closed group...and talk about what is appropriate for each of those different locales.