This is the second in a series of articles on how to use your limited time to grow your business on social media.

Your Customers Want to Know You

It is safe to say you are not alone in the marketplace unless you have somehow stumbled onto the first product or service in the entirety of human thought. So, how do you stand out across the millions of choices the internet offers your potential customers?

People buy from people. In our first post, we discussed how to leverage the people who love your product or service to gain a larger audience and grow your business. But the next part has less to do with the people who already love you and more to do with how we make sure there is something there to love.

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This is the first in a series of articles on how to use your limited time to grow your business on social media.

Your Business is Your Customers

Wow, Rob. Wow. Applause. You are a true business guru. Stop the voting because we’ve found the most ingenious little idiot in town.

OK. Now that it’s out of your system, let’s talk about what I mean by YOUR BUSINESS IS YOUR CUSTOMERS. Whatever you are selling - services, products, etc. - is driven by your customers and audience.

Think about when you go to buy something online. Do you search on Amazon and buy the first thing you see? Maybe. But that’s the quickest way to find the company that paid to be at the top.

That won’t do, so most of us look at the star ratings. And if we are conflicted about multiple products?…

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For the word (not pictures) people:

Caffeinate & Elevate: Let's kickstart an awesome week!

(... but first: COFFEE)

Step One: Make a List

• Get your big projects on the board

• List the little wins that will sustain your morale and motivation!

• They ALL add up to a great week. 😉

Step Two: ELEVATE

• Schedule time to boost other people on social media!

• COMMENT AND SHARE posts (... then like after that)

• BONUS POINTS: tag friends and coworkers in content they would find useful!

• BONUS BONUS Points: when you boost others on social, they are more likely to interact with the content you make as well (and the algorithm will also share your content with them more often)

We can help make Mondays better for each other!

ENGAGE
SUPPORT
SHARE
... and CAFFEINATE some more 😜

(skip the cutesy graphics and read the text)

YOUR VOICE MATTERS

You can grow your organization’s social media presence with your authentic self.

… BUT WHERE DO YOU START?

• HAVE A CO-WORKER YOU APPRECIATE?

• HAVE A FUN, POSITIVE WORK STORY?

• HAVE A WORK PROJECT OR SERVICE YOU ARE PROUD YOU DID?

• MADE A PUBLIC PRESENTATION?

• WENT TO A COMMUNITY EVENT?

SHARE IT AND TAG YOUR ORGANIZATION/BUSINESS!

KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID SUPERSTAR!

Because whatever you post will be ‘gone in 60 seconds.’ You’re not going to go viral - good, bad, or ugly - so set the expectations low and the stakes even lower than that.

AUTHENTIC CONNECTIONS > VANITY METRICS

People want to follow and know other people. Your organization or business is made of people. You are the authentic social voice of your organization, so get out there and post!!!

Tell me about something you recently posted that you're proud of!!!

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Communicating with Visuals

I think icons are pretty fantastic, but there are billions—maybe trillions—all around the internet. How do you pick visuals that reflect the message you want to communicate, and how will they be received?

I stumbled upon a cool YouTube video recently from 20191. It outlined a pretty amazing case study for iconography, and we built the data set! If you played the game Quick, Draw! from Google, you helped their neural network understand human drawings.

The secondary insight from this data set is how it can quickly tell you what icons and words say to people on a macro scale. There are 50 million individual sketches of different concepts—from aircraft carriers to zigzags—all drawn by people. If you want to frame a concept about your business, writing, game, or art, you could sketch out your ideas and come to this website to see how they reflect what people commonly see when they think of the ideas you are using!

As you click through the different concepts, you begin to see patterns take shape (literally). One of the other compelling parts of this warehouse of drawings is that it shows them drawn out in real-time. The game only gives 20 seconds to complete a drawing, and the drawings ‘play back’ in GIF form to show how people made their work.

You can always play the game yourself (on your phone or computer), as it’s quite addictive and fun. You would be lending your own perspective to this sketchbook, Rosetta Stone.

I know the next time I work on a logo, icon, or other design, this will be one of my first places to come to for inspiration. If you want to communicate clearly, this is a FREE public focus group!

The creative journey is fraught with obstacles, hazards, and endless questions. The biggest question is: How do I get this idea to people who need it?

This newsletter aims to provide the necessary tools to fill in some gaps along your journey to building the business, projects, or other creative ideas that only you can bring.

1. Getting Ideas Out of Your …

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Welcome to Tools Works, a place for you to fuel and fill your creative toolbox. I am merely a curator and creator of valuable tips, tricks, and - yes - tools to help you in your creative journey. Please comment below if you have a go-to tool, software, plug-in, or *anything*. I will gladly steal it (with credit to you, of course)!

Steal Like an Artist

One…

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