1. After weeks of being ignored, my editor came to see me! We were able to make some ridiculous headway in the final revisions of my new novel and map out the content for the sequel!
2. I should have my electronic plate proofs for Songs of Many Seasons by Friday!!
3. I found out some really interesting things about marketing and Facebook pages.
Let's talk about some controversial subjects to get going today. First, what is your personal opinion of what's happening in the NFL, currently? Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice...you should know both, or at least one story well. Here is a cap: Ray Rice knocked his wife out cold after she slapped him repeatedly and spit in his face. Adrian Peterson is accused of beating his child with a wooden switch till it caused lacerations. Now Facebook, Twitter, social media, and sports news stations are going nuts! It's an emotional topic for many people. It matters not where your opinion falls on either side. I am pretty heated too, but let's not get caught up. Take a step back with me and let's explore how issues like this can really affect your small business negatively.
 |
| (Peterson and son courtesy of google images) |
 |
| (Rice and daughter courtesy of google images) |
If you are like me you have a business Facebook page. Most people do, the harm that is posed by mega social issues like these above often doesn't hurt big business, but the small ones. Here's why. YOU. The owner, the proprietor of your small business website. You are human, you have opinions, but unless your personal account is distanced effectively from your business account, beware! Google +, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and all social media sites you own personally can either protect or seriously harm your small business by the content you post.
For example, I am an Author. Any site I run automatically becomes a business platform to me because my name is on it. I have my image, my fans know who I am, what I discuss, and they are use to me. Your business may not be John Doe's Supplies, but as a small business, your name as the owner/proprietor is inexorably linked to your livelihood. Now listen careful: What YOU post on your PERSONAL accounts will in some way affect your business.
I purposefully avoid heated topics like the NFL's recent trouble. I may talk freely about the case, but I will not publish my opinions because I know that there are people online waiting to get into a dirty, ugly fight on both sides. Also, I don't want an opinion I hold personally to change my business image as an Author. I have tackled so many issues in my novels and poetry its crazy, but I don't want to influence the market in a negative way by openly getting involved in every controversy known to man.
Your business is your baby, protect it with guarded words and thoughtful speech. You won't ever lose business by posting hopeful messages, interesting tips, or stories of achievement on your personal social media sites. You will lose business, however, if you blare your opinions across the world wide web with powerful language while being inconsiderate to those who have an opposing view. You define your business with your personality. It shouldn't matter to a printer if a football player has seven children from two different relationships. It shouldn't matter to a fiction Author if a professional athlete has been married multiple times. We are our business, anything else is a distraction to our viewers and followers from what we do and who we are.
Remember though, there are some issues worth standing on. Moral integrity in business, kindness, love, encouragement, ethics, legal practices, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Express your opinions in areas where you can prove you are different than bigger, soulless companies. You care, the little guy matters to you. That is the opinion your viewers and buys care about. Don't waste words on situations to which you are unrelated, and if you are related, all the more reason to keep the matter amongst close family and friends. You would be surprised what such a little change can do to boost your image and help you stay focused in a blurring market of emotional sensationalism.
No comments:
Post a Comment