The BIG Thinkers Blog

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Your Internal Business Reality

Being aware that the mind is very creative can help us comprehend the power of beliefs. By now, for the most part we realize that our perception of our business reality is profoundly influenced by our beliefs, but the wide-ranging level of this influence is frequently taken too lightly. Each of us has an assortment of approaches for shifting our business reality so it matches what we believe to be real. And most of us are quite good at altering our business reality to match our beliefs.

In the first part of this series we discussed how our beliefs provide a structured process through which we assess all the things in and around our business. Let’s take that concept a step further and glimpse at the influence of your beliefs on your Internal Business Reality.

From the minute you were born, your subconscious mind has been diligently gathering and processing information. Mixed in with your experiences, this information is used to form your beliefs about who you are as an entrepreneur, and how you fit into your business and the business world around you. [Read more...]

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… What We Believe to Be the Truth

Most of you have heard all the buzz, read the books about positive thinking and the Law of Attraction… You know the ones I mean, the ones where they mention that if you just use positive affirmations, think positive thoughts, you can sit in your office, eat bon-bons and success will coming knocking at your door without you lifting a finger.

Just believe it enough and you can achieve it.

If that is working for you, great! Now for the rest of us, who want everything but are unsure of how to really get it, I’m speaking about something deeper, more effective and longer lasting. And requires some work on your part. Some of you may run for the hills when you here that.

All of you others, who are still with me, have you ever wondered how your beliefs actually create your current business reality? Do you think there is a logical explanation for this experience, or is it some kind of secret that only a few know about and it’s a complete mystery to you?

Like I said earlier we are headed in the direction to help you so we are going to stick with logic and leave the woo-woo stuff to the woo-woo experts. [Read more...]

Facebook Essentials: Timeline for Branding and Client Attraction

Everyone is buzzing about Facebook Timeline, especially marketers and Facebook experts. You can find tactics and snippets across the web from hundreds of places (I’ll share my favorite picks here too!), without rehashing what’s already out there, here are my thoughts on Timeline, how I’m using it for branding and client attraction, and how you can do the same.

What I ♥ about Timeline

Experience

Timeline opens up the branding experience to help you create a better experience, from visual to one-on-one. Yes, you could achieve branding before Timeline–but, let’s be honest, the experience was limited and basically boiled down to your clever use of Facebook’s features, with a bit of personality thrown in for good measure.

Now, the experience you can provide is much more customized and visual. With the inclusion of a new “Message” button, the potential here to connect one-on-one with your audience also adds to the experience.

Customization

Timeline presents customization opportunities not available on the older version of pages:

Cover graphic: this important visual will be essential in presenting a first impression to first-time visitors. You’ll want this image to represent who you are and what you stand for. Notice I did not say, what you offer, rather a visual story of your brand.
Custom tabs: with the prominent visual placement of your tabs (you’ll notice mine above), the new (wider: 810px) custom tabs, present a great opportunity to create micro-opportunities to grow your list and build your influence.
Pinned updates: You can now “pin to top” and update for up to 7 days. This will keep the update at the top of your Timeline–a great feature to showcase an important update about a launch, event news and the like.
Highlights: You can “highlight” an update to your Timeline, giving it much more visual prominence. Highlighting an update will make it the full width of your timeline and allow you to feature updates that tell your brand story. Mari Smith has done an excellent job in using this strategy.

Client Attraction

Because of the better experience and control you have over your timeline, custom tabs and beyond–smart entrepreneurs and business owners (like you!) are going to develop creative strategies to strengthen client attraction opportunities.

Remember, nothing grows your client attraction efforts like building authority, credibility and influence–Timeline helps you do all of these in a much better way than before. Be sure to plan your strategy and ensure your efforts on Timeline are integrated into your lead generation and sales funnel strategies.

My Custom Tabs

I’ve decided, initially, to use the custom tabs strategy to welcome new fans and help build credibility by offering a library of resources to showcase my expertise.

News + Strategies

This custom tab features a snippet about me and an opportunity to connect with me by newsletter and social media:

*Free* Download

The advanced, eBook version of my new book One Simple Thing that Changes Everything is featured, with an instant (no opt-in) download sample:

Resource Library

As I mentioned before, my Resource Library custom tab is designed to showcase free resources to help build my credibility and influence with my ideal potential customers:

Timeline Resources Worth Your Time

After reviewing the massive amount of information being published about Timeline tactics, the following resources I found most helpful:

John Haydon has an excellent tips on how Timeline will change your content strategy. He typically writes for non-profits, I found his advice applicable to businesses too.

Edelman Digital breaks down Timeline for bigger brands. The information is more than applicable to smaller businesses too.

Mashable has a Facebook Timeline: Complete Guide, complete with videos. If you’re still thinking about starting your Timeline, you’ll want to check this out.

Of course, the queen of Facebook, Mari Smith is sharing an excellent, instant download resource covering Timeline and other important changes you need to be aware of.

What’s Your Timeline?

I’d love to see what you’ve done with the new Timeline. Post links to your Facebook page in the comments below!