This week’s weekly roundup will be a bit shorter than usual. That’s because even though last week was pretty busy, there weren’t that many interesting learnings worth mentioning (wait for the next one, I can already tell you that this week has been full of learnings). But let’s not jump the gun and get back to last week.
The power of social media
On Tuesday, we had another great Cambridge Social Media meetup where we talked about hashtags, using LinkedIn for driving sales and understanding social media analytics. The most interesting part of the evening was when we started talking about seeing social media as an engagement tool, rather than a sales and marketing channel.
I know how effective social media can be for marketing and I’m helping many businesses leverage the power of social media, but I still focus mostly on using it to achieve long-term goals instead of getting quick wins. For me, social media is about building trust and relationships. It’s about sharing your knowledge and expertise with everyone and nurturing audiences that appreciate what it can do for them and who want to learn more.
What’s your view on social media? How do you use different social media channels to drive business growth? I’d love to know!
Great community of people, supporting each other
I feel incredibly lucky that over the past 18 months in business, I have managed to create a lot of professional friendships. These relationships are important mainly because of the mental support they offer. It’s so good to know that I have lovely people around that will be here for me if I need them (and vice-versa of course).
One of the best places to meet people like that are Mastermind groups. The whole purpose of these sessions is to help each other solve a challenge by learning more about each other and then owning the challenge. It could be a broad or a niche issue, but the power of collective problem solving always offer valuable insights.
At one of these Masterminds last week, I learnt how important it is to be aware of inbound marketing tactics (compared to old school push strategies). Customers these days have a huge variety of options and they are more informed than ever. You can hardly compete on price (especially if you’re a one-person business who has limited time to offer), so you need to make sure you’re targeting only the right customers.
Why should you waste your time trying to convince someone that they really, really need your service when you can let the ideal customer come to you? The only difference is the way you do marketing!
Book Corner
After watching a really interesting episode of the #AskGaryVee Show with Timothy Ferris, I’ve decided to give Tim’s famous book The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich another try. I first started reading this book about a year ago, but it sounded too ‘American’ to me, so I never finished it. Listening to Tim talking about his story and sharing a bit more about his experiences, I felt that he deserves a second chance.
This quote really struck a chord:
“For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you, but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it “eventually,” just do it and correct course along the way.”
I’m already looking forward reading his brand new book Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World.
Which book have you read recently that inspired you to take an action? Let me know if comments or tweet me at @lenkakopp.
