communication | You Brand, Inc.

Posts Tagged ‘communication’

Scott Scanlon

Abraham Lincoln and Social Media

When Abraham Lincoln was faced with keeping the United States together during the Civil War he was fortunate to have a new technology– the Telegraph. For history buffs this historical record gives us amazing insight into the war and the mind of President Lincoln himself. President Lincoln never kept a diary but the his thanks to his telegraph records we get a peek at his thoughts and it reveals how comfortable he was with this new technology.

What spurred these thoughts for me was I recently watched a great program on C-Span (Mr. Lincolns T-Mails) from Tom Wheeler where he speaks about his book, “Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War.”

During this time the telegraph was a new device (used primarily by the financial industry) and no national leader during wartime had ever had technology access to such a powerful communication device. Suddenly it was possible to get a fast and fuller view of the battlefield from every theater of engagement. The Telegraph provided Lincoln with the thoughts of his generals, reports from spy’s, and in some cases near instant reports from long away battlefields. Quite a few historians have argued this tipped the balance of power for the President and his cause to re-unify the nation.

That’s where I thought about today, what new communication technology do we have at our hands?

Scott Scanlon

Your One Idea

Recently I was listening to the Podcast EconTalk by Russ Roberts who was interviewing Nassim Taleb. If you are unaware of who Nassim is– he wrote two great books The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness. These both are great reads and the more I hear from Nassim the more I’m convinced he is one of the great minds of our time.

In this interview he mentioned something that really became a revelation. He said he only really has one idea. He could spend a lifetime working on figuring out this one idea. Approaching it from different angles and different thoughts. He said…

Scott Scanlon

Content Secret – The Inverted Pyramid

When Creating content think about an inverted (upside-down) pyramid.
Always include your most important information and points first
Then follow with helpful information and finally end with what would be nice to know.
Doing this gives value first and respects your reader, viewer, or listener and allows them to choose to engage further.

Do you want to make sure that your readers or viewers of your video always get value from the content you produce? Creating content using the inverted or upside-down pyramid is one top secrets for creating content that sticks and gets read or watched.

Scott Scanlon

Uh Oh… My Social Network is Offline… and Why That’s a Good Thing

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and all social networks are great for meeting new people, even maintaining connections, and driving traffic to your website.

The only problem is that sitting behind the screen making comments, updates, and likes simply is not enough. Not if you want massive results.

Yes, there is one surefire way to explode your networking and connections. Take it a step beyond the interwebs and take your connections offline.

That’s right; connect with people in reality, not social reality. Yes a bold concept. I could go on here for a few paragraphs why this is effective but I’m hoping you already get it. Plus I value your time. So let’s move onto some tips we have learned in doing this. Read more of watch the video below.

Scott Scanlon

Did You Use That? Sorry I Threw it Away.

If you use Twitter you would have noticed today as the stream and conversations included hashtags such as:
#fixreplies
#twitterfail
among other phrases and conversations appeared throughout the day.

In today’s world with instant response this provides a great lesson on communication of not only your brand, your message, but the key features you, your product, or your service provides.

[pro-player width='425' height='344' type='FLV']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIo-I8CJL24[/pro-player]

Scott Scanlon

What is Twine and Why You Should Use It

Twine is a social networking site that allows you to connect anything you find online within one inter-twined conversation. From Facebook, Myspace, Digg, De.li.cous, Bebo, Twitter, blogs, etc… all are connected within a conversation or twine in one place.

Essentially a very robust comment stream with multiple contributors. These interests help to group your personal interests and also allow you to connect with other Twiners that share your interests as well.

A Twine can include: Bookmarks, Pictures, Videos, and soon more. Also other Twiners then can leave comments on your Twines and the links to the content giving praise or criticism to those links. The power of Twine is where you can create Twines and share insights, links, posts, and other content within the twine. Others who are interested in the same topic can add comments, additional links, posts, blogs, videos, the list is endless.

Scott Scanlon

One of the Best Sources for Business Inspiration

I wanted to share one of the best websites and podcasts I have found for business and general inspiration. Hopefully you have already had a chance to listen to Andrew Warner over at Mixergy.com. If you haven’t below are some of the best interviews I would recommend to get a feel for what his podcast is all about:

I believe that in just about every interview that Andrew does you will find at least one gem of insight to help you in what you do.

Scott Scanlon

7 Short Communication and Authority Tips

Whether delivering a presentation, writing an email, blog post, or briefing somebody in the hallway, make the opening line the punch line.
Words alone never carry the complete message. Messages come from context, relationship, timing, tone of voice, what was said, what was not said, and body language. All these things together comprise the total message that people “hear.”
Interpret information and translate the relevant details to the different people or groups involved. Think about what your information means to them specifically and clarify that when you share your views.
Get peoples attention by summarizing your message succinctly. Then follow up with the details.
People withhold details to gain power. they lose it for the same reason.
When you praise someone, focus on how– how they got the good rating. Otherwise, how will they know what to repeat?
To make sure people walk away with the same message you intended to convey, verify by getting them to react to it in some fashion.