Be Different or be dead

June 28, 2019

How Instagram can be used to gain an advantage over your competition

How Instagram can be used to gain an advantage over your competition.

With so many people becoming a part of the massive social media revolution, Instagram has become one of the biggest platforms available. In fact, Instagram is now the second biggest social media platform, with around 800 million active monthly users. It comes after Facebook,  which has about 2.07 billion active users worldwide.
This is why many users, especially entrepreneurs, are taking advantage of these platforms to reach out to potential clients.

Why Instagram?

Facebook might have more than twice the number of users that Instagram has, but these two have their differences in terms of reach and form of promotions, making it necessary for most businesses to use both to improve their online presence and have an edge against the competition.

What makes Instagram a must-have for some businesses is that its mobile-centric photo sharing capabilities makes it a favorite for people in terms of capturing moments to share with and captivate audiences.
So, compared to Facebook, Instagram is a better choice when it comes to promoting your brand.

Getting started with Instagram for business

If you are one of the many business owners and entrepreneurs who have decided to go on Instagram and reach more consumers, here are nine things that you need to work on to promote your business online:

Fill out your bio strategically

Let the people of Instagram know who you are and what you do. Creating a credible identity on Instagram is a necessity. This way people will understand what you brand is about and if you are something that can be a part of their interests.
At the same time, you need to incorporate keywords that will help search engines know what your business is for.

Find, follow, and interact with your ideal customers

Instagram is not just about gaining as many followers as you can. It’s also a good tool to understand how you can better cater to your potential clients. Instagram is a great platform for businesses to have a better understanding of the people who can potentially become a part of their clientele.

Think about your product

How can you better promote your brand and your product on social media? It’s not just about words or numbers. Instagram has proven time and again how powerful photos can be when it comes to gaining a large number of followers, and more importantly enticing people to purchase products as shown on the photos shared by your brand.

Expand your reach with #hashtags

Hashtags have become a very important part on the online world. Think of it as the best bots out there. It has helped people find more interesting items in relation to a certain topic they are using to search and promote with.
If you are looking for the best way to reach more potential clients, hashtags should always be a part of your posts.

Build anticipation and offer exclusivity

There is a certain charm when it comes creating suspense and anticipation. Many people like having their curiosity piqued. Some brands that market online tend to take advantage of this by sharing a number of posts that entice other users to click on their post and learn more about their company.
Some brands, on the other hand, run competitions and quizzes and give out their product as prizes to the winners.

Think strategically about your posts

For your posts to be more effective and be able to reach more clients, you have to identify a specific strategy. It’s ideal to schedule regular posts and that you maintain a common theme throughout all your posts and these posts should promote your brand.
Riding the waves of viral videos or photos from famous people can also help you get more followers.

Coordinate with social media campaigns

There are various social media campaigns that can give you inspiration on how to get more followers. Many social media influencers and brands make use of Instagram’s live video feature to interact with clients and get more people to follow their page.
With a bright idea in place, these social media campaigns can help you go trending and become the talk of the media.

Announce new hires, promote your culture

If you want people to get more involved in your company, let them know as much as you can share with them. Let the public understand what type of environment your company has and who are the people behind your brand.
If you onboarded new people, share it with your followers and let them see what your brand is all about.

Showcase your customers and service

To make the most of social media, it’s not always just about your brand. Sometimes to be more inclusive and to create better connections with your customers, it’s ideal that you share the limelight with them, too.
Get your customers involved with your brand and share with your followers who your customers are. You have a famous person as one of your customers? Snap a photo of them with your product and share that with the people.

Instagram can definitely give you a better online presence. If you are new to this social media platform, these nine things can definitely help you promote your brand and reach more people who can turn into your own followers and clients.

— Marquis Matson is a writer, social media manager and SEO content marketer.  She currently lives on the coast of Ecuador, working remotely as a freelancer. Her primary focus is on building online visibility of new, up and coming brand, particularly brands that promote health and wellness. She lives a nomadic lifestyle, though is originally from California.

• Posted 6.28.19 at 04:08 am by Roy Osing
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June 24, 2019

5 simple steps I took to have a rewarding and successful career

Source: Pexels

5 simple steps I took to have a rewarding and successful career.

I have had a long career.

Over 50 years in many roles — from analyst to entrepreneur to president to consultant to author — and in many different types of organizations — from a regulated monopoly to an intensely competitive data and internet company to a small business on my own.

And I am frequently asked what were the key things I learned about success.
The question asked is: if I could distill the hours, days, months and years I put in “at the office” down to THE few specific learnings that had the greatest impact on my success, what would they be?

It’s a tough question to answer because there are so many variables at play that determine what works and what doesn’t: the leader that one serves, the economic environment that one operates within, the demographics of the employee population and the rate of technological change all work together to influence the performance of a team of professionals.

That said, I believe that these 5 principles that I learned and applied throughout my various careers had, in comparison to many others, the greatest impact on my overall performance and were my critical success factors.

1. Competence is serving others

There are two types of people in life: those who like to control those around them and those that love to serve others.
One stems from the historical command-and-control model; the other from a belief that if you enable someone to do their job as they know how, their — and the organization’s — performance will soar.

It’s the servers who are the most successful because they understand that when you are in the serving mode, others respond enthusiastically to what they are saying and to what they want to do.

Servers connect emotionally with humans and create a bias to action that results in amazing outcomes. Servers lose their ego because it gets in the way of getting things done.

Success isn’t about what YOU know, it’s about how well you mobilize what OTHERS know.

2. Execute first; plan second

Ideas represent 20% of what gets done. It’s not the idea or the plan that has value, it’s the execution.
So-so ideas that are miraculously implemented with tenacity and passion become revolutionary and are game changers; “great” ideas without hell-bent implementation become road kill and never see the light of day.

Most people don’t get this. They’ve been taught that the development of the plan should be the priority focus; that rigour must be applied to “get it right”.
The problem is, the plan is never right because that would imply that all variables affecting the plan have successfully been accounted for. And in a world of unpredictability that is impossible.

One of my key learnings was to get the plan “just about right” and apply maximum energy to executing it,  and tweaking it based on what works and doesn’t work along the way.

While others spend their time trying to perfect their plan — the impossible dream — you are creating something that actually works based on the realities of the marketplace.

3. Success demands giving up

Success isn’t just about what you do that’s new, it’s also about what you give up that’s no longer relevant or productive — it’s not about what you take on, but rather what you are prepared to give up.

It would be great if we had an unlimited amount of time to pursue all of the possibilities that face us. But we don’t, so it is extremely important that we tackle the truly critical tasks that will pay off handsomely and that we eliminate the baggage from yesterday.

I constantly observe people toiling away on projects that don’t contribute to their goal, but they are happy to continue them because it’s their comfy zone.
I suggest you constantly question the relevance of what you are doing; be “in your face” on whether the project adds value to your end objective or not.

And be ruthless in expunging this resource wasters — #CRAP — and replace them with task that positively contribute to the end result you expect.

4. Change needs emotion

The prerequisite to this is that your brand needs to carry a strong change agent dimension; people need to see you as someone who wants to make changes that are consistent with the dynamics occurring in the environment around you.

You don’t want to be seen as a hanger-on who is reticent to accepting the inherent risks of doing things differently.

That said, to be an effective change agent requires that you excite the emotion in people; waking up the logic isn’t good enough.
I can’t tell you how many times a good theoretical solution died on the vine because no one was excited by the prospects it posed.

Change doesn’t come easy and it is definitely NOT as a result of intellectual energy. Change happens when people’s emotions are stirred by the new vision.
The lesson for change agents is to appeal to people’s right brain when change is the agenda. Pump ‘em up with the possibilities.

5. Mistakes are vital

Avoiding making a mistake is not as important as what you do after you’ve made it.
Mistakes will always be made; people and technology are not perfect. But if you do an amazing job at recovering, people will forget the actual mistake you made and remember only what you did to rectify it.

A colossal screw up with little or no follow up action to recover stays a colossal screw up whereas one that has a brilliant recovery that leaves you breathless makes it a colossal success.

How do you turn an OOPS! into a WTF?
The formula for an unforgettable recovery is: fix the OOPS! fast (it must be within 24 hours or don’t waste your time) and surprise people with what they don’t expect.

The surprise factor is the secret ingredient to a mind-blowing recovery because everyone expects the mistake to be fixed but they don’t expect to be taken on a magic carpet ride during the process.

They will remember the magic; the mistake disappears from consciousness.

5 rather simple things that punch above their weight in terms of deciding between average and unmatched performance and career success.

They made a huge difference for me and they will for you.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.24.19 at 04:59 am by Roy Osing
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June 17, 2019

Why is emotion really important to a winning business plan?

Source: Unsplash

Why is emotion really important to a winning business plan?

Without emotion, you’re business plan is lifeless and probably useless.

What makes one organization wildly successful and another either fail or achieve lookalike mediocrity?

There is no shortage of opinions on this. Academics, consultants, subject matter experts and thought leaders all weigh in on the ingredients necessary for an organization to outperform their competition and solidify themselves as consistent long term winners.

A good business plan

Having a strategy, of course, is important and it should conform to these guidelines:

—  It should be simple. It should define in simple language the end game the organization has in mind;

— It should be just about right. It should define in loose terms what must be achieved in order to be successful. A perfect strategy — one that management spends copious amounts of time developing with the belief that if more time is invested, the plan will be ‘more perfect’ — doesn’t exist;

A strategy is formulated with the best information and insights available when it is created, and by definition this is a flawed process. No sooner is the strategy finished, the world changes and some part of the information used to develop it is no longer relevant.

— It should be driven to carve out a unique space in the market. Value propositions that are similar to the competition will likely fail because they don’t provide a compelling reason why a potential customer should buy from them as opposed to their competitor.

The special sauce

But even a strategy built in the image of these principles won’t guarantee success unless it is mixed with a special sauce.

A strategy is useless unless it captures the hearts and minds of the people on an emotional level.

If people intellectually understand the strategy they won’t necessarily be compelled to deliver it consistently day-in and day-out.

They may understand that ‘unleashing the power of the internet’ is the strategic intent, but unless they are emotionally driven to act on it, execution is dysfunctional and lacklustre and no real progress toward realizing that goal is made.

A strategy without emotionally charged people to execute it will fail. The good plan on paper won’t progress beyond that stage if the special sauce is absent.

This is definitely NOT an OMG! moment for the reader; it’s not a revolutionary thought that you’ve never heard of before. Quite the contrary; the “we need motivated employees” notion is promulgated ad nauseam by the pundits of strategy.

So, if highly motivated people is a well known requisite to effective strategic execution, why are there so many strategies that fail?.

Here are 5 reasons.

1. There’s no ‘energized visioning’

Energized visioning is needed to get the juices flowing.

Communicating strategic intent must be an emotional experience for the employee audience. They must be excited and moved by the picture that leadership paints about the journey that awaits.

Pedantic, monotonic and left brained people have no place articulating the chosen path, for it will turn people off and do nothing for execution.

2. There’s no line of sight for people

Line of sight clarity is necessary for people to know what to do.

When people know specifically what to do to support strategic intent, magic happens.

The problem most organizations have is they don’t spend the time to translate what the strategy means to each function and each position in terms of the new outcomes expected and the old ways that must be discarded.

3. There’s not enough action people

Hiring people who love to do stuff as opposed to think about stuff is critical.

Pontificators block effective execution. They love to talk about possibilities rather than get down and dirty to start doing stuff.

You can’t train people to cast off their intellectualization proclivity; you must hire people who have a natural bent to do it — action must run through their veins.

4. There’s no serving leaders

Leadership by serving around unearths the grunge and barriers that get in the way.

Leaders in the workplace asking “How can I help?” separates the hyper effective executioners from the bland ones. Brilliant execution is all about a “clean” internal environment where barriers to getting things done frustrate people who want to deliver what is expected of them.

And this happens when leaders get out of their office or the boardroom and assimilates with the crowd of employees charged to implement. They discover what’s preventing amazing execution and they fix it (and people love them for it).

5. There’s not a ‘tries’ culture present

The more tries that are made, the greater the likelihood of success.

Strategic intent is never deterministic; it never turns out the way it was originally conceived. Despite the rhetoric of the academics, real progress is made when people try things — a lot.

The end game may be clear but the way to get there is not; and this requires different tactics: some work and others don’t.
The truth is, however, if you’re not maximizing the number of tries you’re making you’re unlikely to arrive at your desired destination.

Strategy is important but it is smoke unless it’s infused with passion and emotion.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.17.19 at 04:43 am by Roy Osing
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June 10, 2019

When your leadership results go unnoticed what’s the right move?

When your leadership results go unnoticed what’s the right move?

When you always find yourself in a no-win situation where you do whatever the organization expects of you and yet you come up empty in terms of recognition and reward for your efforts.

There are times when you can’t win for losing.

I received an email recently from Bill, who experienced this dilemma. Here is his story…

“For years I was in charge of a (declining legacy) unit within my large organization. I was a good day-to-day manager but wanted to lead change and turn things around - to be a leader, not just a manager; to be transformative, not transactional.

I had a lot of ideas for turning around demand, collaborating with other units, and expanding our product line, and did as much as I could within the unit. But serious change required new resources and/or support at higher levels.

So I spent long hours thinking and brainstorming with my team, crunching numbers, practicing presentations, and building relationships across the organization to make evidence-based cases for change that aligned with our organization’s strategic goals.

When your ideas are ignored

But most were turned down, and I never did reverse the decline. And I now realize that I probably never had a chance. It suited the organization to keep our legacy unit the way it was, producing declining but still considerable value without needing to make any new investment or disrupting other more high-performing units.

But no one told me this. Instead, I was openly encouraged to keep pitching new ideas, even when I expressed concerns that I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

Feedback was always affirmative, just ‘not right now’ and ‘try again.’ So I kept going further on the same path, feeling change was always just around the corner. But I was throwing good money after bad.

After six years I finally got out with a lateral move elsewhere in our organization. Looking back I now see the real problems.

My direct manager for the entire time was overburdened and a poor communicator and coach. He actually tried to treat everyone as fairly as possible, but that meant saying the same thing to every unit leader, not disrupting the existing structure, and following a single resourcing model regardless of context.

Second, previous leadership at the top was more dysfunctional than I knew. The strategic plan was followed inconsistently and was useless guidance for someone at my level.

When you realize you’ve wasted precious time

But I wasted a lot of years and effort there, setting back my entire career. I wish I had been able to see things a lot earlier.

How can someone recognize they are in a no-win leadership situation? Especially when they receive mixed or misleading signals from the organization and their superiors?

Throughout my time I became increasingly obsessed with the distinction between managing and leading that is found in so much of the leadership literature. I always thought that “if I am a real leader, I will turn this around.”

I probably ended up downplaying my actual management skills - I ran a good, productive shop with high morale despite our gloomy long-term prospects. In retrospect, I would have invested even more in fixing day-to-day stuff rather than trying to come up with shiny new things.”

Sound familiar? Although the signs are in front of us, we keep believing that our efforts sooner or later will be recognized and that we will be rewarded for them.

Well guess what? Some people will suck the life out of you and give you nothing in return. They don’t care about you and want only to use you to further their own personal gains.

Be alert to the information in front of you

That said, how do you spot the tipping point: the point where you actually have enough information in front of you to make a call?

Bill actually had all the information he needed:
— his new ideas were consistently turned down;
— he spent a number of years trying to play a transformational role, but was unsuccessful;
— his leadership skills were not valued;
— he wasn’t recognized for his uniqueness; he was viewed as a common tribe member;
— the organization was dysfunctional in terms of executing their strategic plan;
— his superiors gave mixed signals on what was valued and expected by the organization.

The information to make an informed decision was there, but Bill didn’t act. He hoped that if he stuck to his game plan of innovation and providing leadership his worth would eventually be rewarded.

If you are disappointed once, shame on them but if you keep coming back for more, and are repeatedly turned down, shame on you.

So my advice: look at and listen to the evidence in your face and ACT! Things don’t get better by hoping that things will change.

Choose change and avoid being stuck

Improvements in your career and your life only happen when you decide to take a new course and find out if you chose well. If you don’t choose change,  you’ll be stuck as Bill was.

Your choice may not pan out but at least you will have more experience and information to make another choice, and another until you reach the right fit for you.

Never expect and trust others to do the right thing for you. They might, but you have no certainty that they will. If you want the right outcome, YOU you have to take responsibility and do it yourself

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.10.19 at 04:28 am by Roy Osing
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