We all get wrapped up in the day-to-day operations of social media. Where to post, what to post, when to post it…sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees. Nonetheless, it's important to take a step back and consider whether or not your social presence, as a whole, is reflecting the brand of the business it supports.
Taken all at once (like on your Twitter profile page) or on an individual basis (in your followers' Instagram feeds) does your brand always translate? One way successful businesses express their brands is with color. To the extent that it's possible, having a cohesive overall look to the imagery you post on social is a great way to reinforce your brand's values.
Is your brand dark and moody, or light and airy? Is there a specific color you could try to feature in your posts? These questions are important to ask, and to find the answers, you need look no further than your logo. Your brand identity (which stems from your logo) should inspire the look of everything you do – including your social accounts.
Take for example the integrated marketing and branding agency HZDG, which I personally follow on Instagram. Their orange logo has been so well integrated into their social presence that I almost can't see orange things anymore without thinking of HZ (which is a great viral marketing strategy, btw). But it's not just because of their logo or their promotional swag; all the imagery they post has subtle nods to oranges and browns that harken back to their central identity:
If you're just starting to establish a brand for your business, now would be an excellent time to think about the emotions and associations you want to convey with your logo, identity, and ultimately your social presence. Once you've identified those things, you can use this handy infographic from The Logo Company (see below) to figure out what colors should dominate your social imagery. Are you an optimistic yellow or a friendly orange? Are you creative and purple or balanced and silver? Take a look and find examples of companies doing a great job embodying their brand colors:
This post originally appeared on the Pagemodo blog. Main image via Shutterstock
Back in May, Facebook announced a new product called 'Instant Articles', a new type of content format that looks to change the way readers experience content on Facebook. Instant Articles are posts that are uploaded directly to Facebook – so rather than a publisher posting a link back to their site to get readers to view their content, media providers would be able to have their content hosted on-platform, which reduces load time, improves performance and gives creators access to a whole range of new tools to use, like in-post video and interactive images.
Despite the initial pitch, we've not seen a heap of Instant Articles flowing through our News Feeds as yet. But that's about to change – today, in an official post on the Facebook blog, The Social Network announced that Instant Articles are coming, and in a big way.
And they look pretty good.
Instant Articles Launches for iPhone with Thousands of New Articles Published Daily
Today Facebook launches Instant Articles for iPhone – a beautiful new way to read articles in News Feed that is faster and more interactive than ever before. Starting today, everyone on iPhone can read thousands of Instant Articles from your favorite publishers every day. Look for the lightning bolt on the top right corner of some stories shared in News Feed. The lightning bolt indicates it's an Instant Article. When you tap the story, it loads ten times faster than a standard mobile web article and the reading experience is beautiful and interactive. Check out this short video to see what Instant Articles look like. We hope you love it as much as we do.
Posted by Instant Articles on Monday, October 19, 2015
In a new post on the Facebook Media blog, Facebook Product Manager Michael Reckhow announced that everyone who uses the Facebook for iPhone app will now be able to read 'thousands of Instant Articles every day'. You read that right – 'thousands'. From now on, when you see an article in your News Feed, there'll be a lightning bolt in the top right corner of some, highlighting them as Instant Articles, meaning they'll load 'ten times faster than a standard mobile web article'.
In addition (and as showcased in the above video), Instant Articles provide an enhanced reading experience, allowing creators to utilize a range of on-platform publishing tools like:
· Autoplay videos that awaken automatically as readers scroll through the story
· The ability to zoom-in and explore the details of high-resolution photos just by tilting your phone
· The ability to like and comment on individual photos and videos throughout the story
· Interactive photo galleries that can be to swiped through, in article
· Geo-tagged images that open interactive maps
The end result is a great looking, fast loading, immersive reading experience, all hosted within Facebook. Even better, readers themselves don't have to do anything new to share Instant Article content – when you share a link, Facebook will cross-check that content and display the Instant Articles version, if one exists. The expanded Instant Articles experience is great for Facebook, and looks great for readers – but what about publishers? Are they also set to gain through this new offering?
This is the biggest question mark on Instant Articles – will publishers ultimately lose out by giving up website traffic in order to build audience on Facebook? At the moment, it's hard to say.
Facebook's offering publishers a revenue share deal on any ads they sell within their Instant Article content, as well as improved, third-party data tracking options to add more transparency to the process and ensure publishers don't lose relevant audience insights. In testing, Facebook noted that users have been more likely to share Instant Article content than they would normal posts, so there will likely be reach benefits – whether that's enough to offset the possible reduction in the publishers' own website traffic is really going to be a case-by-case proposition.
But definitely, there is an inherent risk to publishers – as noted by TechCrunch editor Josh Constine, both Instant Articles and Twitter's new 'Moments' feature reduce the connection between publishers and their audience by removing much of the identifiable links which are displayed on content currently – things like promotions and subscribe buttons. In doing this, the content itself could really come from anywhere, and over time, this approach could reduce the relevance of individual publishers in favour of these new content options.
As part of today's announcement, Facebook has noted that fourteen major publishers are already using Instant Articles (those highlighted above), with close to another 50 set to come on board shortly, including Billboard, Bleacher Report, Business Insider, CBS News, CNET, Complex, Cracked, E! News, Harper's Bazaar, Mashable, NBA, NY Post, The Onion, People, Rolling Stone, Seventeen, TIME, USA Today and Variety.
Given such a wide variety of publishers look set to be jumping on the Instant bandwagon, other publishers may find it difficult to resist, particularly if the reader response to Instant content is positive. And by looking at how Instant Articles work and what's on offer, there's a good chance they will be well-received – Instant Articles could quickly become the norm, a move that could further shake-up the online media space and re-shape publisher strategies moving forward.
Ultimately, the real winner in this equation is going to be Facebook. Facebook's main driving ambition – to keep people on Facebook, all the time – relies upon them being able to provide additional functionality and tools that provide all the internet in one single place. In line with some of their other new projects, like on-platform shopping, a new, individualized video content feed and the addition of services like it's 'M' personal assistant project, Facebook is advancing, everyday, towards that all-encompassing vision. Instant Articles is another step in this process, and given Facebook's dominant audience share, The Social Network is well-placed to increase its market standing and boost that ever more important stat of daily on-platform engagement (as of Facebook's most recent earnings report, users are spending 46 minutes per day, on average, across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger).
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly re-stated that his ambition with Facebook is to 'Connect the World'. But really, we know that there's more to it than that – it should read 'Connect the World… to Facebook'. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, Facebook's only able to expand their empire because they're providing functionality and tools that people want, that increase the network's utility and applicability in our day-to-day lives. If they ever fail on that front, users will turn away – Facebook knows this, which is why all these new functions benefit us, the users, more than anyone else.
And really, Facebook wins by gathering attention. Yes, there is a risk that Facebook could let publishers build audiences on the platform through Instant Articles, then change the rules, as they did with brands whom they initially encouraged to gather Page likes to boost reach. But really, Facebook will keep winning so long as it can hold our collective attentions, and expand upon the amount of time spent in doing so. The more they're able to do this, the more they boost the value of Facebook as an advertising platform – and Facebook's already, arguably, the greatest ad platform ever created. In that sense, it's to Facebook's benefit to work with publishers, as well as their audience – the more they can do both, the higher the chance that Facebook continues to win, long-term. How that equation evens out to make it equitable for all sides remains to be seen.
Twitter, like all social media platforms, has changed drastically over the last couple years. And as the technology and networks have evolved, so too has their wider value and impact.
The learning curve for new users on Twitter is very high, but for those that are finding value on the platform or have had that "aha moment" via tweet, the question I'm most often asked is: "how do I scale, how do I engage more, how do I become a power user?"
I'll admit I'm a technology and tools geek, (see my post: "40+ Social Tools I use for Personal Branding Success") but before I share with you my favorite tools, you must understand that there is no easy button – to find value and build relationships, it takes effort and lots of work, just as it does offline.
Here are the 14 apps, tools and tactics that I use when engaging on Twitter. For me, engagement on Twitter must go beyond a RT, favorite or 140 character exchange. Embracing content and embedded material, such as custom graphics, audio clips and video, in combination with scheduling and social listening tools like Buffer and Hootsuite, not only allows you to stand out from the crowd, but enables you to generate engagement and conversations. My social media and personal branding philosophy is #ShowUcare, and if you embrace these tools you'll have more time to be human, build relationships and do just that.
1. TweetDeck – Active, real-time dashboard that allows you engage and share from multiple twitter accounts.
3. Hootsuite – Social media management, RSS feed management, social listening feeds, team and account collaboration
4. Canva & Pablo by Buffer – Create custom graphics easily to share on Twitter
5. Periscope / Meerkat – Live streaming video apps, leverages Twitter connections, posts live stream links to Twitter feed.
6. Twitter Lists – Organize and filter your Twitter followers into organized feeds, subscribe and follow others lists.
7. ManageFlitter – Manage your followers, clear inactive followers, compare your followers to others, find new people to follow.
8. Mention – Social listening with alerts for each time your name, Twitter handle or other words.
9. Klear (formerly Twtrland) – Dashboard view of your account, influencers accounts and content being shared by your followers and followers of topics you follow
10. Twitter Video – 30 second video's embedded into Twitter, take videos saying thank you or storytelling beyond 140 characters.
11. TweetBot or Twitter Mobile App – Leverage downtime with mobile Twitter apps, customize notifications to understand when your mentioned so you can engage in real-time.
12. Topsy – Search hashtags, compare hashtags and trends to better understand hashtags being used and which hashtags are best.
13. TweetChat / Nurph – Sites dedicated to Twitter chats, enables users to follow only chat hashtag to organize conversation. Read more on Twitter chats here!
14.Meshfire – Twitter dashboard organized for team and campaign engagement, leverages artificial intelligence to give unique view of twitter conversations.
What tools did I miss? What tools do you use for engaging on Twitter? Check out my #iSocialTalks weekly video blog and podcast for more on Tools.
With Facebook's roll-out of Instant Articles this year, brands and publishers alike have found new opportunities for posting branded content on Facebook. In support of this, Facebook announced plans at Cannes Lions for immersive mobile ads that could tell a story.
The ads take advantage of recent calls for vertical video and image capability. When users click on an ad on Facebook on their smartphone, they are taken to an immersive slideshow of images.This video demonstrates how Michael Kors first did it. Users can scroll back and forth (up and down) between images, rotate a product using a slider on screen, and watch animated text. In short, these ads give brands an opportunity to build their own small websites within Facebook.So, now that these ads have been available for a couple months, who's doing what? Let's look at three brands who are doing cool things with Facebook's immersive ads.
This recent campaign by Wendy's shows off some of the fun brands can have with these immersive ads. Using interactive gifs and images, Wendy's takes the customer through every ingredient in their signature burger. There's a gif of cheese melting alluringly over a couple of burger patties, and some animated ketchup swizzles.
Bacardi recently launched a campaign called "The Truck." Specifically geared toward millennials, it's rooted in a short film with an indie-friendly feel that seeks to connect Bacardi with house parties. (The truck – a house on wheels – picks up person after person to join the party on-the-go). The campaign represents a clever attempt by a brand to match the medium with the message: to create a campaign for millennials that's trying to reach them where they are: on their phones.
Mr Porter, an upscale online menswear company, was also among the first brands to test immersive ads on Facebook. Their interactive spot includes quick, beautiful video snapshots of sport at its most elegant. Miniature slideshows constitute lookbooks where customers can see what sneakers and apparel they suggest for running, etc.Click here to see the video demo.To me, even though close-up, textured photos of meat patties are not exactly appealing, the Wendy's campaign does the best job of using these new interactive features to tell a story. Their invitation to "taste every ingredient" is matched by the content of the ad, which allows you to browse their signature burger ingredient by ingredient — and did succeed in making me a little hungry.
Want to use it to connect with potential partners and prospects?
To discover how to network on LinkedIn, I interview Stephanie Sammons.
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.
In this episode I interview Stephanie Sammons, a social media strategist who specializes in LinkedIn. She's written extensively for Social Media Examiner about LinkedIn. She's also author of the new book, Linked to Influence.
Stephanie will explore how to build a network and prospect using LinkedIn.
You'll discover how to curate and share content on LinkedIn.
Listen as Stephanie Sammons shares what marketers need to know about building a powerful network using LinkedIn.
Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
Listen now: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe: iTunes | Android | You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher, SoundCloud or Blackberry.
Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Stephanie's background
Linked to Influence by Stephanie Sammons.
Stephanie spent 15 years as a wealth manager at big financial firms. After the financial meltdown in 2008-2009, she ended up taking a package and starting over. Stephanie decided to launch her own business. Initially, she stayed within the financial industry, but then went into the digital marketing space, doing web development and design.
For the last five years or so, Stephanie has been writing and speaking about LinkedIn. When she couldn't find a comprehensive resource on LinkedIn, she decided to write one. There were books about your LinkedIn profile and about how to network on LinkedIn, but she wanted one that covered all the bases.
Stephanie's book, Linked to Influence, provides a framework for building your own personal brand on LinkedIn, and includes networking and other opportunities as well.
Listen to the show to hear why Stephanie says LinkedIn saved her life.
Why people use LinkedIn
There are almost 400 million members on LinkedIn, 30% are from the United States and 70% are international. Over 60% of LinkedIn members make more than $75,000 a year and 40% of LinkedIn members make $100,000 or more. The users are affluent, well-educated and come to LinkedIn to really connect with others. They want to find or share information, news and knowledge, but also want to build a network, connect with others and make things happen for their businesses.
There are nearly 400 million members on LinkedIn.
Stephanie likes how LinkedIn does content aggregation. LinkedIn's Pulse app curates news, based on your network. The smarter your network, the more relevant the content and information you see on Pulse. It includes articles from major media outlets, as well as stories from people you're connected to who are publishing content on LinkedIn's platform.
The interface on the Pulse app is fantastic, Stephanie says. You can zip through it, save articles, share them and comment.
Listen to the show to learn most people's perception of LinkedIn.
Benefits of a good network
Stephanie refers to cultivating the right LinkedIn community as building a smart network. The smarter your network, the more relevant people and opportunities you attract. Have a valid reason for bringing someone into your network.
A smart network has market opportunities unique to you. Everyone's situation is different, Stephanie explains. Look at people in your home and work locations, current and previous industries, your organizations and associations, referral sources, potential business partners, suppliers in your industry, journalists and more.
Find the most valuable people in your network. Image: Shutterstock.
Take a 360-degree view of the people you know and decide who are the most important. Connect with high-quality people and get to know them better.
Listen to the show to discover the myth of a large network.
How to build your network
Stephanie is very strategic about who is in her network. She does not connect with every journalist or every person she meets at an event. However, she says, when you meet people offline and then make a connection online, they end up being the strongest relationships, since you're more memorable.
Accepting a connection request is a very personal decision, Stephanie continues. If someone who lives far away and has heard Stephanie speak online, sends her a personal invitation to connect (referencing where he or she heard Stephanie speak), she will likely accept. However, she also uses discretion. Does the person have a picture, an attractive headline summary and a complete profile?
Since it has become more challenging to send personalized invitations on LinkedIn, Stephanie recommends people build some kind of rapport with a potential connection on Twitter, Facebook or another social network first. Let the person know you'd love to connect on LinkedIn and you'll send over an invitation. Since it will probably be a generic invite, at least they know it's coming.
Another option is to send a paid InMail to anyone on LinkedIn. InMails are valuable, and you want to use them wisely, because you don't get a lot of them. Upgrade to a premium account to send InMails. You can purchase more, but there's a limit. Keep in mind, LinkedIn will usually give you a free trial for a premium account.
Stephanie shares other ways to reach out to those not yet in your network.
If you have someone's email address, you can send a personal invitation to connect. If you're in a group, you can send messages to other members (though you're limited to 15 messages per month). It makes sense to join relevant LinkedIn groups to search group memberships and build rapport with potential clients, as well as possible future business associates.
Join LinkedIn groups to find potential future partners.
To discover how large someone's network is, Stephanie says to add the LinkedIn Chrome extension to reveal that information.
Listen to the show to hear why it's good to get to a network of 500+ connections.
What to post on LinkedIn
While being active on LinkedIn seems like a simple thing, Stephanie thinks about 80% of the network does not actively post status updates and engage in the news feed. Share something once a day that is valuable to your network, and you will increase your visibility significantly.
LinkedIn is a professional network, so it's different from other social accounts. Don't post selfies, pictures of your pets or anything of that nature. Stephanie says it really goes back to the reason you want to build a smart network. When you know the people you're connecting with, you have a much better idea of what to share with them and determine what they find valuable.
You can also see the engagement with each of your updates, so pay attention to what does and doesn't work. People can take three actions on your updates: like, comment and share.
Whenever people comment, it can potentially be seen by their network, so you gain exposure to the networks of your first-degree connections. It's much easier to get engagement on your personal profile on LinkedIn (as opposed to your company page), than it is on Facebook right now, Stephanie adds.
Shares are fantastic. When connections share your post with their networks, they can include their own commentary. Put your own spin on someone else's update and share it to help that person grow visibility with your network.
There are a few different options of things to post on LinkedIn.
Status updates are activities that go into the news feed of your connections. They're short and sweet, though you have a little bit of room to create a message or provide commentary.
LinkedIn Publisher is basically a built-in blogging platform. It's mostly for creating long-form content and articles as a way to showcase your professional insights, ideas and knowledge, while adding value to your network. Content like this cultivates relationships.
Share knowledge by writing blog posts on LinkedIn's publishing platform.
When you publish an article on LinkedIn, it gets shared in the news feeds of your first-degree connections, just like a status update. They can click through to read the article on the publishing platform and then comment on the article, like and share it.
While third-party tools are extremely useful, if you use them to post links on LinkedIn, the image will not look right. The solution is to type in your message, include the link to the article and then add the image separately.
Click on the photo image icon in the box where you're posting your update, and upload an image (from the article or your own image). The image will now take up significant real estate in the LinkedIn news feed, your commentary will be above it and the link is clickable.
Note: Videos will play in the LinkedIn news feed. Plus, people can scroll through a SlideShare presentation right there too.
Listen to the show to discover why the Pulse app is so amazing.
Tapping into your network
Stephanie believes if you're thoughtful and strategic about connecting with prospects, it can be highly effective. She shares an example from her book. The CEO of a bag company received an unsolicited message from a fabric creator, who asked if he was looking for custom threading, since that's what they do.
The custom bag maker happened to be in the market for a new type of bag, but couldn't find the right partner. They ended up working together. The custom bag maker launched an innovative line of glow-in-the-dark bags, and it was huge. This never would have happened if the custom fabric maker did not send that message.
While that example worked well, Stephanie prefers to find a common connection point. Do you know some of the same people? Can you come up with a good reason to reach out and build some rapport first and then talk about possibilities? Can you recognize something that someone has accomplished and tie it into what you do? Maybe it's a good fit and worth getting on the phone and chatting about it.
Listen to the show to learn about the scripts in Stephanie's book.
Have you heard of Blab yet? Blab.im is a live-casting platform. Whereas a podcast is a prerecorded audio show, a live cast combines audio and video. Plus, you can interview not just one person, but multiple people at the same time.
Interview multiple people on a live-cast blab. This podcast was recorded on Blab.im.
Blab is kind of like a Google hangout, but better. The click of a button on your desktop or mobile device allows you to bring people from anywhere in the world into your conversation. Unlike Meerkat and Periscope, where you are a solo broadcaster looking into your phone and trying to track a bunch of comments as they come by, Blab allows you to be joined by a panel of whoever you want. Bring along a sidekick, bring along a guest or just play roulette and allow people to come into the show and talk with you.
Blab is seamless and easy to use, and is integrated with Twitter. Create an account using Twitter, and share your show with the click of a button. On the right, you can see comments within the platform. Plus, interact with people and give props, which are the equivalent of hearts on Periscope. Blab combines Periscope, Google Hangouts and social all into one to create an absolutely amazing platform.
Use Blab to create spontaneous shows, get feedback on product ideas and do podcasts. As a matter of fact, this podcast was recorded on Blab. At the end of the broadcast, some of the listeners came on and asked Stephanie Sammons their questions about LinkedIn.
As soon as you're done recording your blab, the video is available to watch. Plus, Blab sends you downloadable mp3 and mp4 files.
I've done a number of shows on Blab, including one on Blab Strategy and another called A Marketer's Guide to Blab, as well as a weekly social media show and several spontaneous blabs. Visit Blab.im/Mike_Stelzner to see the shows and subscribe.
This is my discovery of the week, and it's a big find.
Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how Blab works for you.
Listen to the show!
Ways to subscribe to the Social Media Marketing podcast:
What do you think? What are your thoughts on LinkedIn? Please leave your comments below.
Stephanie Sammons talks with Michael Stelzner about how to build a powerful network using LinkedIn.(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.4&appId=159389674132284"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));About the Author, Michael Stelzner
Michael Stelzner is the founder and CEO of Social Media Examiner, and host of the Social Media Marketing podcast. He also authored the books Launch and Writing White Papers. Other posts by Michael Stelzner »
Betty, as you can see, is a chicken. But more than just a chicken, Betty is aiming to become the first chicken to tweet. This is part of a new promotion for Australian fast food company Chicken Treat, which has given Betty the reigns of its Twitter handle. Betty will stay in control till she's able to tweet out a five letter word in English.
The campaign has generated a heap of attention online with reports in various media outlets, including BuzzFeed and Time. Devised by marketing company Marketforce, the activation was designed to kick-start Chicken Treat's social media presence – at the time of the campaign starting, Chicken Treat's Twitter handle had less than 1,000 followers. And now…
(screenshot via Tweet Counter)
Chicken Treat's Twitter handle now has more than 31k followers, almost all of which have been gained in the last month. While it's probably not a campaign that will deliver long-term, and many of those new followers are likely not going to become paying customers as a result (no doubt most are just following to see what the chicken comes up with), it's still clearly been an effective promotion for the brand in raising their social media profile and general awareness. This then gives Chicken Treat a platform from which to amplify future campaigns and capitalize on that audience attention.
So what does a chicken tweet about? Not much really.
But she's trying, and the Chicken Treat team have had fun with Betty's nonsensical missives, even creating inspirational quote style images from her tweet content.
Some words of inspiration from Betty. And remember: if a chicken can tweet, you can do stuff too. #ChickenTweet pic.twitter.com/fHX2t14R74— Chicken Treat (@ChickenTreat) October 14, 2015
It'll be interesting to see if Betty ever does come up with a five letter word, or whether Chicken Treat will move on to the next campaign – and what they do next on that front is obviously crucially important.Also, if you're interested, there's regular Periscope streams from inside Betty's coop if you want to watch genius at work.
For decades, a lot of emphasis has been placed on understanding an employee's intelligence quotient (IQ), referring to our cognitive abilities which allow us to acquire knowledge and solve problems. But in business (as in life), if you only focus on this part of an individual, you're missing one of the major parts of the success equation.
Truth be told, if you want your business to succeed, you need more than just smart employees. You need people that have a high level of 'emotional intelligence'. This is even more true in today's connected world – building relationships depends on it.
The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has first came to the wider public consciousness via Dr. Daniel Goleman's 1996 bestseller 'Emotional Intelligence', which was based on years of research conducted by noted social scientists Peter Salavoy and John Mayer.
In the book, Goleman defined EI as the ability to recognize, understand and manage one's emotions. Mastering these skills not only has a direct effect on an individual's ability to make sound decisions for themselves, but it can also give them insight into how to understand and influence the emotions of others.
According to Goleman, there are five constructs that make up EI:
Self-awareness – Which is the ability to know one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognize their impact on other.Self-regulation – The ability to control one's disruptive emotions and impulses while adapting to changing circumstances.Social skill – How a person manages relationships to move people in the desired direction.Empathy – The ability to understand the emotions of other people.Internal Motivation – What internally drives a person to achieve, without the influences of external factors such as money or status.
It would be easy to dismiss emotional intelligence as mere pop psychology, however, studies have consistently shown that the most successful business executives have a high level of EI. In fact, research presented by the Carnegie Institute of Technology concluded that 85% of our financial success is directly related to our ability to communicate, negotiate and lead.
Need more proof? How about the now-famous 1997 case study involving cosmetics giant L'Oreal? When the company wanted to make a dramatic shift in their sales force, they decided to recruit and hire agents that had exceptionally high emotionally intelligence levels. The resulting increase in profits exceeded $2.5 million dollars. The company also experienced a near 63% less turnover during the first year.
More recently, businesses such as SAP have been clamoring to enroll their employees into a mindfulness course created by a Google engineer. The class teaches self-awareness as a way to dramatically reduce stress and increase both personal and professional communication.
The course has become so popular, in fact, that it's spawned both a nonprofit organization ('Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute') and a best-selling book endorsed by the Dalai Lama himself.
So, with EI playing a major role in growing a company's success, why don't more entrepreneurs utilize it? Mainly because emotional intelligence isn't something that's taught in school. There are, however, ways in which you can foster higher EI among your workforce.
Start with a value statement – More than just a statement about corporate culture, a good value statement lays the groundwork for how employees should treat both the public and each other and it's a great way to highlight how important the ideals of listening, fairness and kindness should be to your staff.Create a work environment that encourages communication – Does your company space allow for an exchange of diverse opinions?Establish a culture of accountability-from the top down – Want motivated employees that are eager to please the customers while doing the right thing? The best way to obtain this is to lead by example.Help your employees find their significance both in and out of the office – Work-life balance are often interconnected with emotional intelligence – rather than mandating your employees become mindless office drones focusing solely on profit, help them to envision how professional success can enrich their family life.
The best way to foster an atmosphere of caring is to becoming an engaging leader that's mindful of employee needs and is ready to listen and react when needed.
Individuals with high emotional intelligence are those who have the ability to recognize, understand and manage their emotions. Studies have shown that the most successful businesses are those who utilize EI as part of their business practices. Although this may not be an entirely innate process, workplaces looking to benefit from these traits can do so by fostering an atmosphere that encourages communication, fairness and a solid work/life balance.
This post originally appeared on Bryan Kramer's blog
![Branding Your Social Media Presence with Color: It Starts with Your Logo [Infographic] | Social Media Today](/sites/default/files/adhutchinson/files/colors.jpg)
![Branding Your Social Media Presence with Color: It Starts with Your Logo [Infographic] | Social Media Today](/sites/default/files/adhutchinson/files/sm1(3).png)
![Branding Your Social Media Presence with Color: It Starts with Your Logo [Infographic] | Social Media Today](/sites/default/files/adhutchinson/files/sm2(4).png)
Back in May, Facebook announced a new product called 'Instant Articles', a new type of content format that looks to change the way readers experience content on Facebook. Instant Articles are posts that are uploaded directly to Facebook – so rather than a publisher posting a link back to their site to get readers to view their content, media providers would be able to have their content hosted on-platform, which reduces load time, improves performance and gives creators access to a whole range of new tools to use, like in-post video and interactive images..jpg)
In addition (and as showcased in the above video), Instant Articles provide an enhanced reading experience, allowing creators to utilize a range of on-platform publishing tools like:.jpg)
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Twitter, like all social media platforms, has changed drastically over the last couple years. And as the technology and networks have evolved, so too has their wider value and impact..png)
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Mr Porter, an upscale online menswear company, was also among the first brands to test immersive ads on Facebook. Their interactive spot includes quick, beautiful video snapshots of sport at its most elegant. Miniature slideshows constitute lookbooks where customers can see what sneakers and apparel they suggest for running, etc.Click here to see the video demo.To me, even though close-up, textured photos of meat patties are not exactly appealing, the Wendy's campaign does the best job of using these new interactive features to tell a story. Their invitation to "taste every ingredient" is matched by the content of the ad, which allows you to browse their signature burger ingredient by ingredient — and did succeed in making me a little hungry. 
Listen as Stephanie Sammons shares what marketers need to know about building a powerful network using LinkedIn.
Linked to Influence by Stephanie Sammons.
There are nearly 400 million members on LinkedIn.
Find the most valuable people in your network. Image: Shutterstock.
Join LinkedIn groups to find potential future partners.
Share knowledge by writing blog posts on LinkedIn's publishing platform.
Interview multiple people on a live-cast blab. This podcast was recorded on Blab.im.
Stephanie Sammons talks with Michael Stelzner about how to build a powerful network using LinkedIn.(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.4&appId=159389674132284"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
About the Author, Michael Stelzner.jpg)
Betty, as you can see, is a chicken. But more than just a chicken, Betty is aiming to become the first chicken to tweet. This is part of a new promotion for Australian fast food company Chicken Treat, which has given Betty the reigns of its Twitter handle. Betty will stay in control till she's able to tweet out a five letter word in English..jpg)
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For decades, a lot of emphasis has been placed on understanding an employee's intelligence quotient (IQ), referring to our cognitive abilities which allow us to acquire knowledge and solve problems. But in business (as in life), if you only focus on this part of an individual, you're missing one of the major parts of the success equation.