It’s that the current platforms don’t seem to have any incentive to do that.

Part of the issue is that mining and monetizing people’s data has been so damn profitable. Therefore, the more data you can gather, the more you can sell and the happier your shareholders are.

Let’s be real, Facebook has no real assets beyond our attention and our data. They’ve been unable to come up with a monetization strategy that doesn’t handsomely reward them for deeply invading into our privacy.

The same is true for Google. Every bit and byte of data that you give to Google is used to assemble an advertising profile of you. This includes everything you search for and interact with across the entire Google network (Google, Maps, Youtube, Gmail, etc)

With the introduction of voice activated assistants, Amazon has joined this illustrious group of spies companies.

Each of these companies have become masterful at using the data that they collect to show you ever more relevant ads (or products), and in many cases have been more than willing to give advertisers access to your information.

The more you learn about the privacy practices of these large data-driven companies, the more concerning it becomes. The hoops you must jump through in order to protect your privacy is mind-boggling including VPNs, sandboxes, private browsing, do not track settings, and deleting apps from your phone. It’s become staggeringly complex.

There is, however, one company that has shown a commitment to privacy, with a solid, vertically-integrated product offering capable of replacing nearly each and every one of these tools. This is the sole company with the capabilities, the infrastructure, the business model, and the funds to save us from a truly awful dystopian future: Apple.

Apple already has all of the tools, albeit many need vast improvements to be truly competitive. But, more importantly, they have the brand and business model that supports their ability to build the social network I’m about to describe. Building this network is a way to get people even more invested in the Apple eco-system (i.e buy more hardware).

While I believe that something like this would be profitable, I also think this move has the capacity to boldly reshape the web as we know it.

I believethat we have reached a point where people yearn for an option that respects our privacy and gives us the ability to connect with our friends and family on our terms.

I believethat the rise of toxic social media behavior is making us unwell as a society, and much of that has to do with the incentive structure of these networks.

We must have an alternative to the existing platforms who have an inherent conflict between fighting hate speech and harassment while their algorithms favor activity and who invade more of our privacy as their advertising requires it.

This is not a short term plan but if anyone has the ability to change the current course we are on, it’s Apple. So, keep in mind that what I’m about to describe is probably a 5-year plan, or potentially longer. Facebook and Google will not sit on the sidelines. Apple should double down on privacy and build this platform.

Me.com: A Prologue

The Infrastructure

Before getting into the features of this proposed social network, it’s important to go over the factors of why this is feasible.

Apple already has everything it needs to support this endeavor. ANY other company would have to start from scratch, including building a brand that respects privacy.

Hardware

Apple has the hardware and because privacy is built into their hardware, Apple is the only company that could do this. They have iPhone, iPad, MacBooks, iMacs, AppleTV, and Homepod. I’ll explain how AppleTV and HomePod come in later.

Safari & iCloud

…and the possibility of iCloud Pro

Apple also has the beginnings of their own the online ecosystem, which is essential for this platform to exists. Ask anyone who has tried to ditch Google how difficult it is when your browser is Chrome, your email and calendar are through Gmail and you search through Google.com.

Apple already has a pretty decent suite of tools: Email, Contacts, Calendars, Notes, Reminders, Drive, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, and iMessage. They should continue working on the web versions of each of these apps.

Apple has a solid web browser in Safari which is both fast and has excellent security features.

Apple has iCloud.com (which includes their previously used domains: mac.comand me.com). 

Me.com should be used to build this social network and they should introduce iCloud Pro as a Google Apps competitor with a robust suite of additional business tools and the ability to use your own domains.

Apps, Marketplaces, Payments, and More…

Apple already has marketplaces for mobile apps and games, desktop apps and games, music, movies, tv shows, and books. They’ve also got news, podcasts, and a forthcoming arcade.

Apple even has a Maps app….and it’s ok. It has been gradually getting better.

Finally, they even have payments through Apple Pay and the forthcoming credit card.

So, Apple has everything that Facebook has been trying to build. Now, let’s get into how this social network could work. Everything should be tightly integrated with these tools and applications.

Me.com: A Proposal

For people who are tired of being the product and having no control over their data, Me.comis a social network designed for people who want the benefits, convenience, and utility of a platform to connect with friends, family, and professional peers, but without sacrificing their privacy or security. The site will use an ethical freemium model that puts the user in total control of their data and privacy.

It’s time for a new age of social media.

Profile & Privacy

Me.comwill take much of its inspiration from blogs and the best aspects of various social networks.

The profile will be similar to an about page and give users the freedom to put whatever they want on there. All profile pages will include an archive of posts. These posts will be searchable by date and keyword, like this tweet archive.

Privacy settings for profiles are simple: public or private. If your profile is public, it can be found in a search/directory and anyone can follow it. If your profile is private, it is unlisted and people must be invited to follow your profile. No complicated settings.

There will be no publicly visible follower counter. We don’t need another platform for people to measure their relative popularity. Instead, let’s make something valuable and fun.

Content & Privacy

Privacy settings for content are simple: public, or private and unlisted.

If your profile is set to public, your content is public by default. If your profile is set to private, your content is private by default but any post can be made public.

One of the big issues with privacy on social networks is that it’s not just about what you post. I have friends who don’t have a Facebook account but who have been included in pictures posted to Facebook. The problem with this is that content is being shared without their consent. Me.comseeks to fix this problem.

In the event that someone else posts a photo with you in it, the photo will be set to private by default and cannot be made public until it has been unanimously approved. Using facial recognition technology the photo (or video) will be scanned and you will be notified. The photo cannot be public unless you approve it. If there are multiple people, everyone has to approve it or it cannot be made public. If someone is in the photo that does not have an account, the photo cannot be made public. There will likely be exceptions for celebrities and public figures.

Me.comwill support status updates, long form blogs, videos and photos.

The like button will be replaced with emoji responses (like in Slack). There will also be a comment field. Private posts cannot be reshared and screenshots are restricted.

All uploaded content is stored on your iCloud.comaccount. Content published to me.comdoesn’t count against storage.

Photos can be managed via the Photos.app. Inside the photo app, on both mobile and desktop, there will be a section that photos can be added to. Albums can be added inside of that section allow for better organization. Albums are private by default and can be made public.

Videos are managed similarly using a new section in the photos app. Each profile/account has an AppleTV section where public videos can be published. These channels can be subscribed to via AppleTV or the TV app on iOS. Popular publishers will be able to monetize their content and earn revenues from ads shown on AppleTV channels, like Youtube.

The ads shown to video viewers on AppleTV will use the same ad preferences described below.

The Newsfeed

Newsfeed is comprised of channels that the user decides, delivered in non-algorithmic real time, and you choose who and what is in each feed.

Every account will have the following channels:

• News
• Podcasts
• Videos
• Email Subscriptions
• Close Friends

In addition to those default channels, users can create curated feeds with whatever informations sources they want, including RSS and email subscriptions.

Build the Wall

People can post to your profile, similar to the original Facebook wall. These posts will be publicly viewable (but can be hidden) and will not go into a newsfeed.

Groups

Groups are among the most important features of any social network. Me.comgroups will be a mixture or Facebook Groups and Slack channels.

Brands

Anything available to individuals will be available to brands, and vice-versa. This should encourage authentic social media behavior. Brands will not get any preferential treatment, nor will they be punished. Unlike Facebook, brand pages will not have their organic reach artificially diminished.

Me.comwill be a meritocracy where users will decide if they want to continue hearing from the brand.

Ads & Privacy

What is the big problem with today’s social networks? It’s the every morsel of the data you put on the site is for sale, right?

Wrong!

The problem is that data you never even agreed to share is being used to target ads to you! This may include location data, purchase history, websites you visit, and data collected from less-than-reputable sources. In some cases, you have little or no control over this. You didn’t explicitly agree to let Facebook work with third party data providers. When you deactivate your Facebook account they are still collecting data about you.Even if you’re not logged in anytime you land on a site with the Facebook pixel you are being tracked.

Individual examples aside, the bigger issue here is that data collection is often opt-out, rather than opt-in. This is the fundamental problem.

What if instead, we flipped it?

What if instead of tracking down all of the information that we’re sharing by default, and turning it off, the ONLY information that could be used to target ads to you, was information you explicitly put into your ad preferences?

On me.com, a new way of showing ads could be introduced: 100% opt-in.

Me.comwould have an ads preferences dashboard, with a simple on/off switch at the top. This would turn on or off ad targeting entirely. The it’s on, ads would follow your preferences, when off, the ads would be completely untargeted. Additionally, users could pay a monthly or annual fee to turn off ads completely.

In the ads preference dashboard, users would select from a series of available categories, decide what demographic information they’re willing to offer for targeting purposes, and edit a whitelist and blacklist of advertisers and categories.

On me.com, remarketing would be different as well. There would be no customer lists (email/phone lists) and website remarketing would be entirely opt-in. When a user visits a website, they would receive an unobtrusive notification in a browser extension. When clicked it would display the following message:

Would you like to receive ads on me.comfrom this website?

The user could click yes and the advertiser would be free to target ads to this user. The user can revoke this individual permission at any time.

Advertisers on me.comwould have an online portal where they could run targeted and untargeted ads. Untargeted ads would be run in place of target ads when the users preferences lack enough information to run targeted ads. This way, ideally, when a user fills out enough information, they should only see relevant ads based on information they’ve chosen to offer up for targeting.

The final point on advertising is that all data would be anonymized and encrypted. Advertisers would not be able to pull any information out of the system and if they did it would lack any usable information.

Safety & Privacy

The friction between free speech and censorship is a thorny issue. In my eyes, there are two factors that are at the center of the problem.

1. Control
2. Amplification

The first is something that far more progress has been made. Twitter is a good example. While Twitter is still a cesspool of hate and bigotry, the company has implemented (albeit too slowly) tools that give the user more control over what they see and who can message them.

You can mute accounts and keywords. You can mute notifications from people you don’t follow, or who haven’t confirmed their account, or who don’t have a profile photo, etc. While none of these steps have solvedthe problem, they have been steps in the right direction.

The issue that has been more difficult, and generally brings about cries of censorship, is visibility. This includes who gets banned and, more importantly in my opinion, who gets amplified.

On me.com, comprehensive mute filters will be available. This includes keywords, accounts, and other criteria.

Screenshots and screen recordings will be disabled whenever possible, like on Netflix. Screenshots will be seen as a violations of the terms of service with an immediate suspension, followed by full bans for repeat offenders.

Security

Me.com will only work on Safari, Firefox, and iOS native apps. If some sort of privacy container can be created for Chrome, then that should be added as well.

Login are always required including on the mobile app. Logging in requires three factor authentication. Password. Questions. Text/Authenticator OR FaceID or TouchID.

Android apps should be developed for me.com, iMessages, and Photos but should add warnings about Android privacy implications to serve as a Trojan horse to bring people onto Apple’s more privacy focused platform.

Things Needed or Suggested

New Hardware

I think Apple should release a Chromebook competitor.

It should be cheaper than the current offerings. Ideally this device would be $500 and have the form factor of the 12” MacBook but with a stripped down iOS that has Safari and complete Me.com(iCloud) integration through mail, contacts, calendar, notes, reminders, and drive. It should also have iMessages and Facetime. No other apps should be installable, everything is web-based.

The camera should come with built-in cover, for privacy. It would use TouchID for the login.

New Hires

As many people from the Gmail spam team at Google as possible. Gmail’s spam filtering is the best in the industry, without question. Apple needs to beef up their game.

Ideally they should also hire people from the Gmail team for email filtering and categorization, as well other features and UX.

In other words, if you can’t beat Gmail, hire all of their best people away.

Acquisitions

DuckDuckGo

Acquiring DuckDuckGo is Apple’s way of ensuring that they always have access to a great search engine that is committed to privacy. It would likely cost less than the annual maintenance on Apple Maps to acquire and even improve DuckDuckGo.

Apple acquired Topsy in December 2, 2013…but it doesn’t appear they’ve ever done anything with it. They could add to DuckDockGo’s capabilities by adding private social search into the product.

Apple could then make DuckDuckGo the default search for Siri and obviously they should still allow people to change back to Google.

1Password

Keychain is good. 1Password is epic. With their commitment to privacy, Apple should make it easy for everyone to have strong passwords that can be stored and easily accessed, securely.

Dropbox

Dropbox is still the best cloud based hard drive in the business in my opinion and light years ahead of iCloud Drive. This would be a platform AND talent acquisition. By merging iCloud Drive with Dropbox and adding Dropbox Paper to the iCloud Office suite, Apple would be on their way to competing in the small business cloud.

Twitter

First, someone needs to save Twitter from Jack Dorsey.

Second, the exact same ethos of me.com works for Twitter. Someone could finally turn it into the public utility it was destined to be. Further, with Apple owning Twitter, they could remove all of the incentives that cause Twitter to collect and store user data.

Will it happen and should it happen?

I personally believe that we need something to usher in the post-Facebook world. Facebook has proven itself completely undeserving of our attention and data. Instead, we need someone to come in and bring us the control over our data that many of us crave but have become resigned into thinking impossible.

What do you think? Is this crazy? Is it possible that Apple has already started moving in this direction?

The post Me.com Is The Privacy-Focused Social Network That Only Apple Can Build appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.

During certain types of meditation, you are trying to focus and hone your attention to notice everything, as it happens, in the present. Every sound, every smell, every feeling. This consciousness of where you focus is about more than simply relaxation.

During this period, where you try to focus intently on being present, you are challenged by a constant stream of thoughts competing for your attention. This can include news that you read, tasks you need to complete, concerns you have, and the list goes on…

So, at a fundamental level, you come to realize that every single thing that you give attention to, is given safe passage into your mind and these thoughts are then able to present themselves at any time, often without your conscious desire.

What you give your attention to really matters.

Did you know?

In Mumbai, an IAS officer was transferred after posting controversial tweet on Mahatma Gandhi. Did you know about that?

Probably not. Why not?

A fact like that probably has no place in your daily thoughts because you are not likely giving your attention to local news in Mumbai… unless you are one of my readers who lives there, you have family there, or have a special interest in Mumbai-related stories.

But, if you live in the United States, you probably know plenty about US News. If you’re like me, you probably know a little too much about the MCU. If you’re like some of my friends, you probably know a little too much about this season of The Bachelorette.

Depending on what apps you use, what news you read, who your friends are, and how much you deliberately and selectively ignore, our inputs can vary greatly from person to person.

The troubling part is that there is a paradox about attention, wherein the things most likely to get our attention are often the least likely to be deserving of it in the context of building a better and more equitable world.

Choosing Attention

A healthy exercise would be to ask yourself how many of the thoughts that occupy your attention are deliberately put there, by YOU.

Examine how many, by contrast, are thrust upon you by circumstances. How much of your attention is being guided by your inaction to curate what you focus on.

We should all think more about things that have our attention, because unless we’re deliberate about those inputs, we’re letting others control how we think and potentially letting bad ideas stay in our minds rent free.

What does this have to do with Marketing or Leadership?

If you’re a marketer, you need to understand the finite limits of attention. You have to choose how much you attempt to hack that system for your own benefit.

As a leader, you must be careful with your interactions. The greater the number of negative experiences you have with a team member, the more difficult it will be to change how those people perceive you, and hence the more challenging it becomes to lead.

Attention matters. Your attention, your spouse’s attention, your friends attention, your team’s attention…our collective attention. Maybe the first step is getting some agreement on what we collectively want, and then shifting our collective attention.

The post Attention appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.

This mindset is the crucial element that defines and influences what is possible. It sets expectations about what is impossible.

Many of the problems we’re facing in our world can be associated with a pervasive mindset of fear and modest-to-low expectations. Sadly, this narrative is often thrust upon us.

But, what if we choose something better? What if we chose to collectively dream bigger? What if we committed to treating everyone with love and respect? What if we changed our mindsets are possible and impossible? What if we held each other to higher standards while simultaneously respecting one another to allow for error.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right”

-Henry Ford

Look, I get it. You’re probably sitting there saying “Jeff, these are nice ideas. Of course we should do these things…but it’ll never happen.”

And you know what, you’re probably right.

Think about that.

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

The post The Pervasive Mindset appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.

Sure, we see other people who have heads and that data point helps us understand that we likely have a head…but we can’t see it.

Presumably, we could use our hands and feel our head, that would also be evidence…but we still can’t see it.

Similarly, we often can’t see a way to fix our own problems. We can’t see a way to take our own advice. We can’t figure out how to market ourselves or our own brands. It’s as if we are too close to see it.

So, while it is often quite easy to look at problems, from the outside perspective, and find solutions, from the inside, we may be able to feel it…but we still can’t see it.

The way I see it, you only have 1 real solution: turn to something or someone objective and exterior. Find someone to be your mirror who can see your issues more clearly and design a solution.

We’re inclined to forget this lesson over and over. So, if you find yourself unsuccessfully toiling about trying to solve your own problem, look at someone else’s head, and remember to call in an outside perspective.

Photo by Fabio Zanetti on Unsplash

The post Do you have a head? appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.

We sought to educate a group of small business owners about the various ways in which social media could be used to reach and audience and convert that attention into sales.

This was a fun one for me.

The post 36 Social Media Tools in ~30 Minutes appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.

Do you want to learn how to do this?

I can teach you!

First, let me give you some examples of my ability to gaze into the future and make big, bold, and accurate predictions.

A Niche Youtube Community

A few years ago, I had a client that was trying to quickly generate awareness for their business.

Our target market was comprised of people interested in mindfulness and living a balanced life, which includes exercise, nutrition, and sleep. During my research, I stumbled upon a growing niche on Youtube called Autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, for short. If you’re not familiar with ASMR, you’re not alone. People who consume ASMR content find that it produces a profound state of relaxation coupled with sensations of tingling or mild vibrations. So, while many people have never heard of it, 25 million people have listened or watched a video of this lady eating a pickle. ASMR stepped out of the shadows at this year’s Superbowl Zoë Kravitz was featured in this Michelob Ultra.

Right after the commercial aired, I got several phone calls from others involved in the project who acknowledged my incredible foresight. We all agreed…had this client taken my advice, we could only imagine what kind of a following they’d have developed by now.

“They Trust Me…Dumb F**ks“

I’ve been writing about being skeptical of Facebook for years and years now.

Privacy scandal after privacy scandal, Russian election meddling and misinformation campaigns, congressional hearing, fines…it turns out there was some merit to all of my alarmist concerns.

There I was…right again.

93.3 WMMR

One time, I was walking to my car singing a song to myself. When I got in the car…THE SONG WAS PLAYING!

It’s not a coincidence. I knew.

How To Become a Futurist In Under One Minute

If you want to learn how to make sure that nearly 100% of your predictions come true, it’s quite simple. Go get a notepad, because this simple trick will ensure that virtually all of your predictions come true. Are you ready?

Selection Bias

All that you have to do, is select all of your predictions and ideas that happened and delete from your memory all of the times that it didn’t.

Have you ever had a song in your head and then it doesn’t come on the radio?

Get rid of it! That is an outlier.

What about when you predicted that Peach was going to take over Facebook?

You don’t remember? Me neither! DELETE.

The more predictions you make, the more likely you are to be right, if you remember to add a Selection Bias.

Look, it really is that simple!

Sure, you could settle for having virtually the same accuracy in your predictions as anyone else with comparable access to information or you can “hack the system,” and tell everyone about your success stories while hiding the failures.

Jest

• My client could’ve tried ASMR and failed spectacularly.
• My Facebook predictions were simply a commentary on a pattern of behavior. It hasn’t been really that insightful.
• And when I got in the car singing a popular song and it immediately came on the radio, it represented 1/4000 times, or more, that a song I was thinking about came on the radio rather than something else.

For every prediction that an app would take off and succeed, there are hundreds or thousands of examples of those predictions being misguided or foolish.

Yet, there are people who will go on and on about their keen foresight. They’ll appear in YouTube videos, on stages, on podcasts, or in blogs raving about themselves and laughing at the haters who doubted them. Sadly, we never see videos or talks about everything that they got wrong.

This is the reason why psychics and mediums continue to exist. We ignore everything they get wrong, we fill in the blanks to help them get anything right, and in the end, they become supernatural.

Fight The Bias

Selection bias is often unconscious. We are wired to automatically pay more attention to the hits than we do to the misses. It helps us to protect our egos. It feeds our need to be unique and exceptional.

The funny thing about it is, your wins will carry more weight when you acknowledge your losses.

You will have greater credibility as a person when you acknowledge your losses as well as your wins. Be conscious of this natural predilection for remembering the times you were right while forgetting the times you were wrong.

No one is perfect. We know this. When we see someone presenting themselves as a futurist with a perfect record, we immediately set out to find all of the cracks in their armor, and inevitably, we find plenty.

Here’s My Prediction

I predict that you will be more conscious of this and that you will do more to combat your own selection bias to make smarter, more logical decisions in your life.

So, who’s going to prove me right?

Photo by Eric Nopanen on Unsplash

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He sits down for lunch. After looking over the menu, he decides to try something new…Duck Confit. Oh, and he asks for it “well-done.”

Relative to the preparation of a sandwich, Duck confit is a labor of love. Cooking the duck takes several hours, on top of the prep work that precedes it. Many of the best restaurants often reuse the same duck fat for years. The flavor intensifies over time. This adds to the complexity of the dish.

The bell rings.

“Food up!”

The server delivers a plate to the table featuring a beautifully crisp duck leg over wilted greens.

The man takes his first bite.

He doesn’t like it.

Perhaps it is too crispy, too dry, too fatty, too salty, or not salty enough.

Perhaps, since it is his first time eating duck confit, that the flavor is just new to him. Perhaps he doesn’t understand the cooking process, or maybe the flavor just isn’t for him.

Regardless, in that moment, this customer forms an opinion…

This restaurant is horrible!

They don’t pay attention, they haven’t got the skill. They are simply not good at what they do.

His lens dictates the reality.

Does this sound far-fetched?

Because something similar happens to me when I get into an Uber and they go one block out of the way.

“They don’t know where they’re going, they are idiots.”

Why did they go one block out of the way? It can’t possibly be because the Waze navigation system is helping us avoid traffic or road construction. No, obviously, I’m right…because I say so. Something happens, and we infer that we now know the whole story. More often than not this happens when we’re judging something outside of our area of expertise or with incomplete information.

The same thing can happen with clients, with colleagues, or with partners.

“They messed up. They don’t care. They don’t know what they’re doing. They’re idiots.”

But that doesn’t deter us, right?

We like to think we have some control over our brands and reputations. We invest significant time and energy toward our craft. But because it’s so easy to brand others with our opinions, we’re subject to the same circumstance. And when they do it, much like when we do it, rarely do we consider how our opinion travels, influences, and shapes how others see the world.

The sad part is that collectively, we’re not nearly discerning enough when it comes to passing judgement and sharing it as fact.

For this reason, everyone does crappy work, because someone, somewhere, said so.

Don’t take it personally.

You could let all of this get you down. You could let it stop you from putting your heart in it fully.

But you don’t have to.

Maybe, you’re not perfect. Maybe, you didn’t set expectations. Maybe, the person is just a jerk. In any event, the world will keep spinning, and those few bad opinions in the midst of other accolades are likely not going to sink your ship. Keep your head up and remember that everyone does crappy work…to someone.

The post Crappy work! appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.

We’ve all been there, right?

What about this one? Someone sends you a Linkedin connection request. Their accompanying message combined with their profile headline gives you a vague sense of why connecting would benefit THEM.

You definitely signed up for Linkedin to be sold to, right?

“I’m always looking to expand my network with professionals such as yourself”

Whether it’s Linkedin or Facebook, there’s no shortage of people you’ve never met, who “thought it would make sense to connect.”

“Um…why?”

It seems harmless enough until a week or two later, you realize that you have a list of connection requests from people you’ve never heard of all looking to “see how we can help each other” (often code for “do you wanna buy from me?”) For me, the saddest part is that, at least in my experience, more than half of these people have mutual connections. Yet, they don’t do a thing to utilize social capital to increase their odds of getting a moment of my time.

We’ve been at this social media thing for around 10 years at this point, give or take a few years. Over that time, I’ve seen a few examples of people who have found success using short-term, outbound, self-interested tactics. And yet, we all have a connection requests inbox full of people connection-spamming sitting in the purgatory, awaiting acceptance to begin the sale.

I’ve seen the same failures consulting people about online dating consulting.

• Hoards of guys talking to themselves in her inbox
• Bad opening messages that never earn so much as a single reply because they’re trying to get into bed immediately
• Unmatching at nearly the same rate as the first match

Everyone is in too much of a hurry. But, much like the person who passes you only to find themselves sitting next to you at the same red light, they’re not actually getting to their destination any faster.

So, if you happen to be one of those people, here are a few suggestions, since you are no doubt seeing minimal success from your spray and pray approach:

1. If you plan to reach out cold, talk about ME…not YOU. I’m not proactively in search of strangers to give my time, attention, or money to. I’m open to it, but I’m not that open to it.
2. If you have a mutual connection with me, leverage that. Talk to them about me. Talk to me about them. Ask them for an introduction.
3. Understand that we’re all overloaded by irrelevant information. Our feeds are too clogged up, we have too many connections that don’t matter (hello, high school acquaintances), and anyone worth talking to has plenty of other things going on. Take your time, look for ways to increase your odds of connecting long before you send that connection request.

In short, slow down, because chances are that even though you think you are moving quickly and creating more opportunities, you’re probably not. Realistically, you’re just rushing to sit in my inbox for a few months before I decline your self-serving invitation. If you’re in connection request purgatory, you probably earned it.

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Despite its many benefits, social media can find it difficult to compete for attention and budget against SEO, paid search, email and even offline marketing. Often times, our clients simply lack the understanding of what value social media can bring, how it works, and how success in social media can improve your results in other areas of marketing.

Join me at this month’s Meetup, where we will focus on how social media fits into a comprehensive and integrated marketing plan. I will show you specific examples of how it works to benefit other marketing tactics, and how those other activities benefit social media marketing success.

When:

Wednesday, March 20 6pm – 8pm

Where:

From The Future HQ
448 N 10th St, #401
Philadelphia, PA 19123

Additional Details & Agenda

There will be FREE pizza and FREE beer.

• 6:00 – 6:45ish: Be Social. Meet, mingle, chat, follow each other on Twitter.
• 6:45ish – 7:15ish: Presentation by Jeff Gibbard
• 7:15ish – 8:00ish: Q&A + Open Discussion

Register Now

The post Our Seat At The Table appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.

When: 

March 18, 6pm – 9pm

Where: 

Boy Scouts of America Building
1 Scout Way
Doylestown, PA 18901

Details and Agenda:

$10 will be collected at the registration desk to offset some of the costs to organize and run this workshop.

• 6:00 – 6:30 PM Register & Networking
• 6:30 – 7:00 PM Welcome & Audience Introductions
• 7:00 – 8:30 PM Presentation
• 8:30 – 9:00 PM Q&A & Networking

Register Here

The post Increase Your Social Media Know-How | March 18, 6-9pm | Doylestown, PA appeared first on Jeff Gibbard || Lovable Leader, Professional Speaker, and World's Most Handsome Social Strategist.