Blue Helm

Don't let The Rage Monsters get you!

Another blogger has offended you. You’re mad at yourself for doing something dumb. Anything anyone does infuriates you. Your mind is clouded and you can’t think straight. You’re frustrated that your PR plan isn’t working. You’re thinking of doing something rash and it’s very possible you just might snap. These disheartening symptoms are indicative of only one thing. Whether you like it or not, you are a victim of The Rage.

What do you do when you get The Rage?

1. Recognize The Rage has you – When The Rage has taken over, the most crucial step to defeating it is to realize you have it. Once you recognize that you aren’t thinking straight, you can make the appropriate adjustments to countering potentially embarrassing and harmful actions.

2. Think before you leap – Take a moment to stop and think before you do anything. Ask yourself a few questions: Who is your angry blog post going to effect? Will it hurt your business? Will your mom read this? What good is your reaction really going to do? Is the fleeting euphoria of reacting really worth the consequences? Posting a rant is only okay if you’re in control of your emotions and have calmly thought through what you’re about to post. Remember, there is a difference between acting and reacting. The key to avoiding negative consequences online is to avoid reacting, especially when The Rage has you. You don’t want to end up getting fired, losing a client or offending a loved one because you reacted in haste.

3. Take a break – Sometimes you’ve just hit the wall. Maybe you have a case of writer’s block. Take a walk, a nap, eat lunch or work out. Often a change of scenery will help you clear your mind and chase out The Rage.

4. Meditate – Meditation is powerful. Take time to simply sit and think with no distractions. Find a quite place, turn off your phone, computer, MP3 player or anything else electronic and just think.

The Rage is unavoidable, but you can control it. What do you do to beat The Rage?

Mr. T is hilarious, and so is his Snickers ad campaign from last year. If you missed it then you’re in luck! We’re not being paid to show these clips and are not endorsing Snickers in any way other than giving props for making an awesome ad campaign. Enjoy the clips and have a great weekend!

Here’s a little bonus Mr. T for those who just can’t get enough:

This is an important question not only for my business, but for any business looking to make it big in the online world. It’s a difficult question and it’s taken me four or five attempts to put my answer in writing.

So what’s the answer? Well, it depends. I think the reason it’s been so hard to write this post is because there are so many factors in play when deciding what kind of content your company should release. The content you release depends on whether you’re selling a service or a product. It depends on the size of the company and the existing market share you possess. It depends on the goals you’ve set and the direction you want to take your company. There really is no easy answer that applies to everyone.

So instead of trying to write the one-stop-post on why you should or shouldn’t publicize free content, I’m going to focus on a few reasons why releasing valuable and free content is advantageous.

It establishes credibility

People will read your material if it’s useful for them. If a first-time visitor to your website, blog, Twitter page or Facebook page finds something of value, they’re more likely to return at a later time. If they get something valuable most of the time they interact with your company or website, they will accept you as a trusted and credible source. For example, Darren Rowse (author of problogger.com) received this email from a reader in response to his latest ebook:

“I’ve never bought an ebook before, partly because I don’t trust people with my credit card information and partly because I’ve always suspected most ebooks are just fluff…. But after reading your blog for 12 months and being on the receiving end of useful information every day over that time I decided you were probably a credible source of information”.

The credibility gained from your content will set your company apart as a go-to source in your industry.

It strengthens your brand equity

As your credibility increases so does your brand equity. Brand equity is when people are willing to pay a higher premium for your product just for the name. As you become an opinion leader in your industry, clients will see your company name as a premium brand and will be willing to pay more for your product.

It produces referrals

Now that people trust you and see you as a credible source, chances are good they’ll tell their friends and colleagues all about you. This is the essence of social media. Your business increases as customers and readers refer people to you.

Seth Godin posted this on his blog: “If you really want to make a lot of money then you need to tactically use free content to sell your own premium content/product/service.”

What do you think? If you disagree, I want to know. If you have any more ideas, please impart of your wisdom.

In the last Brain Storm I highlighted some social media content ideas for a jeweler. A friend of mine that runs an online wedding resource website read the post and asked me to write another one with content ideas for wedding planners.

Being the manly man that I am, I don’t really understand the whole wedding thing. I have four sisters and still don’t get why women like the things they do. My idea of a perfect wedding includes the following: family, friends, water balloons, fighting robots, football, American Gladiator events and medium-rare steaks. Alas, what I want at a wedding doesn’t really matter. In an effort to understand what a woman thinks about in planning her wedding, I turned to my Facebook friends. I asked what was important to a woman in planning a wedding. The responses I got were all fairly similar. It seems the number one thing that is important in planning a wedding is keeping the event as inexpensive as possible without sacrificing quality or elegance. After cost, important elements in planning a wedding are location, food, flowers, music and a myriad of other things.

Keeping these insights from my Facebook friends in mind, here are nine social media content ideas for a wedding planner:

1. Promote your vendors – Write a blog post explaining who your favorite vendors are and why. Tweet or post Facebook links to their sites. Not only will these links strengthen relationships with your vendors, but they will be very helpful for your customers.
2. Guest posts – Have an expert from another related industry write a guest post. For example, you could invite a jeweler to write a post about different diamond cuts or what the most popular metals are. This will help strengthen relationships with local shops that can refer business to you, plus it provides useful information for people who may need your services soon.
3. Cost reduction advice – Give tips on how to reduce the cost of a wedding without sacrificing too much elegance. These can be short Twitter-like tips or complete blog posts.
4. General tips – Give advice on what colors are best during which seasons. What types of food do most wedding guests like? Are photos always better than videos, or are they both important? Give tips that your readers will value.
5. Finding a sponsor – According to my sister (who is planning her own wedding right now) there exist people or businesses that will sponsor weddings. Give advice on how to procure a sponsor. How-to posts are great; they provide helpful information to people who are searching for answers.
6. Share pictures – Some wedding blogs I looked over do a great job of this. It helps to show genuine examples of successful and beautiful weddings. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are other great ways to share pictures. Ask your Twitter followers to send you their favorite wedding pictures and have your Facebook fans post pictures on your page. Remember, getting people to interact is key.
7. The Honeymoon – Share links to great honeymoon spots.
8. Weddings gone wrong – Ask fans or followers to share stories of weddings they’ve attended where something funny, embarrassing or unusual happened. Share your own experiences.
9. Tell a story – Tell a story from start to finish of a customer who planned a wedding. Get quotes from your customers and put what they say in the story. Make your pages, posts and tweets as human as possible. The more your readers identify with what you post, the more they will return.

Four years ago I worked as an intern at Northwestern Mutual. I learned many valuable things in the year I spent there. I learned that cold calling is one of the best ways to ruin your day. I learned that referrals are the greatest way to get new clients. I learned that financial advisors have a plethora of rules they have to follow to conform to compliancy regulations. It was a great learning and growing experience, and I highly recommend the internship to any young business person.

Back when I interned the online community was different. Facebook was only available to college students, LinkedIn was unpopular and Twitter wasn’t even invented. Needless to say, the world has changed.

There are now over 300 million active Facebook users. LinkedIn has over 43 million registered users in 170 different industries. Twitter is growing at ridiculous rates. People are using social networks to talk to each other about what they’re doing, why they’re happy, why they’re sad, what’s frustrating them, what’s new and what’s exciting. People are using social networks to connect with old friends, to develop new relationships and to keep in touch with family and friends.

But before I get into why financial reps should use social networks, I need to make sure the basic rules are clear: A financial advisor must work within guidelines set by their respective corporate legal departments that are based on interpretations of guidelines set by FINRA and the SEC. Here are a few suggestions that apply to most companies: A financial advisor cannot talk business on social networks. Don’t use social media to advertise (or even mention) products your company sells, to ask your friends to come into your office to talk about their financial plans, to talk about how great your company is or to rant about how bad your competitors are. You can use approved materials your company has released, but don’t go making up your own advertising material. Be sure to ask your compliance department for a list of what is appropriate.

So why should you be using social networks? Here are the top six reasons:

1. It’s where your clients hang out – As I already mentioned, there are hundreds of millions of people using these networks. And it’s not just kids. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook are those 35 and older. The only way you’re going to sell your services is by getting in front of people. If you want to get in front of people, you have to travel to where they are.
2. Build personal awareness – How often do you meet with your clients? Once or twice a year? Do you have to remind your B or C clients who you are? Social networks give you a way to remind clients that you exist. They‘ll see pictures of your family, learn about what interests you, see your updates and understand who you are as a person (not just a financial advisor). The next time you call them, your clients will know who you are and be more interested in talking to you.
3. Build client loyalty – How many times have clients or prospects transferred their business to another advisor who was cheaper or more accessible? Probably a few times. Now, how many times has that happened with close friends or family? Hopefully, never. The reason you retain friends and family is because they’re loyal to you. As you connect on a deeper level with people through social networks, you’re suddenly a friend instead of just an advisor. You will retain more business as a result.
4. Get more referrals – One of the great lessons I learned in my internship was that referrals are the best way to get new clients. Social networks are a great resource for getting referrals! You can see the people your friends are connected with and ask for introductions. If you search for someone you want to meet, you can see who you’re mutually connected with. By utilizing these networks properly, you can greatly increase your prospecting pool.
5. Have more fun connecting – You can spend your time cold calling and hating life if you want, or you can reach out to someone on social networks. It can be a really enjoyable prospecting tool if used correctly. And while you can’t talk about business directly on social networks, you can invite people to lunch, golf, ski or any other activity.
6. If you don’t do it, someone else will – If you’re not engaging with your clients over social networks, some other financial advisor is. He’s becoming friends with your clients, commenting on their pictures, sending them witty messages and building a relationship that you don’t have. Sooner or later that financial advisor is going to take them out to lunch and steal your business. Don’t let that happen to you. If you have a solid relationship with your clients it won’t matter how many comments your competitors leave on their wall. They’re yours.

What are some other reasons financial advisors should use social networks? I would love to hear your ideas.