The Quicker You Decide…

The Quicker You Decide…

Garth Beyer

Decide

the more time you will have.

The quicker you decide on a theme, the more time you will have to create article topics for it.

The quicker you decide on a name, the more time you will have to brand it.

The quicker you decide on a goal, the more time you have to work toward it.

And my personal favorite,

The quicker you decide, the more time you have to either roll in the success of the decision or the more time you will have to learn from the failure of it.

 

Stay Positive & What’s Taking You So Long?

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Good Out Of The Gate

Good Out Of The Gate

Garth Beyer

Good Out Of The Gate

Not many are.

Typically, the only person who expects you to be good out of the gate is you.

I might be wrong with that statement. Some may expect good out of the gate from you, but they’ll never check.

They won’t read your first book and if they open it, they won’t read all of it. They won’t follow your blog and check in every day for the first three months you blog daily. They won’t watch your YouTube bit detailing your new invention. 50 Instagram photos down the line, they’ll never scroll down to see what your first 5 were.

Don’t focus on being good out of the gate, focus on feeling good.

You’ve started something. You’ve finished and shipped something. You’ve practiced. You’re troll-free because no one is paying attention yet. Enjoy it. Relish it. Leverage the opportunity.

 

Stay Positive & No One Is Watching, Why Not Experiment?

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Assorted Links

Garth Beyer

1) Littering says a lot about you (see)

2) Life sucks, meditation isn’t what you think (read)

3) Thirty things I’ve learned (read)

4) Lessons learned (read)

5) To enjoy an experience more, wait for it longer (read)

6) The drinker’s manifesto (read)

7) The next big thing in fancy food (short read)

Expecting Conversation

Expecting Conversation

Garth Beyer

Instagram Photo

I see a lot of social media posts and talk to others who create online content wondering why they are not getting any engagement, why no one is commenting on their Instagram photo or replying to any Tweets. My reply is two-fold.

Lack Of Communication

Those who see the blog post, the Instagram photo, the podcast, don’t know what they are supposed to do next. Amateurs – and I don’t mean it as an insult – simply state what they want the viewer to do. Some write “leave a comment in the comments section below” at the end of their blogpost or ask “please share this video with your friends” at the end of their YouTube bit. It works!

The more experienced communicators can craft the message in a way that asks the viewer to participate, to communicate in some way without asking straightforward. The wording, the voice, the structure matters, but takes hours of practice to get right.

Writing into a void is easy, writing to interact without requesting the interaction is di-fi-cult.

Take care how you craft your next message, when you write your next blog post, when you post an Instagram photo description. Be sure an objective viewer will know what you want them to do.

Lack Of Emotion

Simply stating, a lot of created social media content is safe. It’s banal. It’s all numbered, bolded, bulleted and smells like a PowerPoint.

If you’re not getting interaction (when interaction is what you want) you’re lacking emotion in your content. The Instagram photo isn’t moving enough, the YouTube channel doesn’t make the viewer feel like anything has changed after watching, the blog post doesn’t make the reader giddy to start something new.

The question to ask before you start anything, before you tweet, before you share a photo on FB: how do you want viewers to feel?

Just as important, the question to ask before you finish anything, before you hit send, before you upload: will the viewers feel what you want them to feel?

 

Stay Positive & Voice Matters

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Social Media Pacing

Social Media Pacing

Garth Beyer

Iron Man Madison Setting A Pace

For all the readers who are runners, don’t you get frustrated when you’re jogging and another person or group of people will run for a short distance then walk for a bit and you end up at the same finish line about the same time? Only you’re exhausted, sweating, panting, about to flop over and pass out, while they merely stop for a minute to catch their breath and they’re off to Starbucks to grab a drink? Frustrating.

They do have some smarts, though. They pace themselves. They invest a little bit at a time and still reach the finish line, but with more energy to immediately head off on another race (or to their reward).

Pacers are extremely successful on social media.

To gain a great following on Twitter, you don’t need to hover over your feed for 7 hours a day. No need to interact with every single tweet that shows up and send a message to every single person who follows you the moment they do.

To gain a great following on Twitter, set out to interact with three people a day, send two tweets out and follow someone knew. It’s my 3-2-1 rule. Let any other Twitter action be natural. This led me to get 800 strong followers on Twitter. Much stronger than those with 20k followers who don’t amount for much, are mainly bots, and who don’t interact (and if they do, it’s spam).

Pace yourself in all things social media. It shows you’re in it for the long run. It shows you’re committed to caring. It shows YOU are a person, not just a Twitter account with a name and automated software attached to it.

The 3-2-1 method works with all social media platforms. Give it a try for a month and tell me you haven’t begun to enjoy social media more.

 

Stay Positive & 3-2-1 Go

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I Probably Type Faster Than You

I Probably Type Faster Than You

Garth Beyer

Fast Typing

In high school computer class, I was recorded typing 149 guam (words per minute). The average is 40. The average for an actual data processing job is 70. When I was last tested for speed typing, about, say, 2 years ago, I rocked a 104. The hiring manager at the agency said the highest he had seen was 80. My excuse for a low speed? I was used to a laptop keyboard (flat keys). I tested on a traditional keyboard.

I don’t really love typing. I’d rather be conversing with clients and mentors, strategizing media plans, going out in the field doing product-interaction research. I could type a lot of things at 150 guam that I would rather do than typing.

How do your employees feel?

They may be remarkable at something, but is it what they love to do? Don’t you think they will be more successful doing what they love rather than what they are merely great at? Don’t we owe it to them, the business, ourselves to find out?

 

Stay Positive & I Believe Learned Talent Trumps Natural Talent. Am I Wrong?

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What The Click!

What The Click!

Garth Beyer

Click Responsibly

Clicking is a public act now.

The attention we give is the attention we get back. We control the media.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s the same concept with our lives, our work, our art. We are the editors of it all, and someone is always watching. What people see can be defined as the influence we have on them, on the world.

We can fight it. We can close the shades. We can turn on Private Browsing. We can store away our art or not talk about the wars going on around the world. Or…. or we can make the sacrifices we need to make to only click what matters, to do what matters, to show what matters.

Before you ask what the click is up with our culture, remember we’re the ones shaping it.

 

Stay Positive & Drown Out The Negativity

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