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Maximize Your Mondays

No matter how much you love your job, Monday can be a challenging day of the week. Maybe you had a great weekend and aren’t ready to be back in work mode. Perhaps you know you’ve got a challenging schedule coming up. Maybe you’re just feeling exceptionally tired. Whatever the reason, we all struggle with a case of the Mondays from time to time. Even if Mondays are never a problem for you, there’s often still room to maximize this first day of the week. So, whether you need a strategy to make Mondays more pleasant, or you’re simply looking for ways to be more efficient, here are some key tips that can help you ace your Mondays:

Mood Matters

Our mood can significantly impact our work, especially a negative mood. It can disrupt our ability to focus, it can cause us to work slower, and it can make it more difficult for us to work as part of a team. If you have any negative feelings about heading into the office on Monday, it’s worth taking some time to try to change them. Even if Mondays are a breeze for you, you can still harness the power of a good mood. Starting your Monday with something that makes you happy can have a ripple effect throughout your day. When you walk into the office feeling positive, your energy, confidence, and friendliness set you up for success.

Prepare Ahead

When we make some time during our weekend to prep for Monday, we’re investing in a successful week. It might be getting some meals ready, pulling out your work clothes and packing a gym bag, or maybe reviewing your planner and your goals. Whatever it is, taking the time to mentally prepare for the beginning of the week can make it a lot easier to get started. Monday is also a great day to look out to the rest of the week. If you didn’t get a thorough overview of your schedule in your weekend prep, take some time Monday morning to go over it. When you know what to expect, you prevent unnecessary stress and inefficient work.

Take Control of Your Perspective

Most of us have encountered that coworker who seems to celebrate every Friday and show up to the office on Mondays with the countdown already started. Why wish away your week like this? Why define Monday as something you want to get over with? Consider how you feel about Mondays now. Maybe you love them, maybe you hate them, maybe you’re indifferent. You have control over that perspective, and when you harness its power, you can supercharge your Mondays. Instead of seeing them as the end of the weekend or step one of a long week, try focusing on their possibility and potential. The more we look at the value of Mondays and focus on the positive, the more efficient we tend to be in our work.

 

What’s your current feeling about Mondays? Do you hit the ground running, or have Mondays become your least favorite day of the week? When professionals take advantage of the potential of every Monday, they light the spark for a successful week.

Tuning into Your Health to Support the Health of Your Business

Many professionals are strongly committed to the health of their businesses, but what about their own personal health? Especially for entrepreneurial professionals, the two go hand in hand. If you want a healthy business that can grow and thrive, you need to be in a place where you can create and support that. Health looks different for all of us, and I’m not here to try to define a picture of perfect health. Rather than thinking about a general idea of health, I think we all benefit personally and professionally when we pay more attention to what’s healthy for us. Here’s why I think it’s so important:

Food

Our minds and bodies need the right fuel to function at their optimal levels. If we want to maximize productivity, deliver high-quality work, and maintain energy and focus throughout the day, most of us can’t expect a cup of coffee alone to get us through the morning. Though skipping breakfast to get to the office early or working through your lunch hour might feel like an investment in your business, in the long term, it’s probably doing more harm than good. This isn’t about a trendy diet or specific meal. Instead, it’s about paying attention to what works for your body. What foods leave you hungry halfway through the morning? Does caffeine energize you or give you jitters? Can a snack prevent an afternoon crash? When you pay attention to the way that food impacts your work performance, you can take advantage of the opportunity to provide yourself the right kind of fuel.

Movement

Again, there’s no one type of movement that’s right for everyone. You might be someone who likes a leisurely walk or someone who likes a quick 5k. Maybe you just need to stretch. Like with food, the idea is paying attention to your body. Maybe you’re stuck on a certain problem. Could a few stretches or a jog around the block help clear your mind? How can you de-stress after a challenging day? You don’t need to be a regular at the gym or even put on athletic clothes. Simply start to notice how movement can change the way you work and begin using it to your benefit.

Mindset

Our health isn’t just about the physical body. Our mental health is just as important to our professional success. Some of the most common challenges professionals face are stress and burnout. Being driven and committed doesn’t have to equal working yourself to exhaustion or sacrificing your state of mind. Think about your attitude overall. Are you more positive or negative? How does stress influence your performance? Most importantly, what can you do to support your mental health? Maybe you journal, meditate, talk to a friend, get outside — the list is really endless here. It’s all about finding the strategies that support your own mental well-being so that you can show up to work at your best each day.

 

No matter what healthy means for you, when you invest in your health, you’re also investing in the health of your business. If health conjures up images of strenuous exercise and strict diets, perhaps you can expand your definition. When you pay attention to giving your body and mind what they need to thrive, you do the same for your business.

Why Asking Questions Is the Key to Success

When it comes to business communication, we often focus on ourselves. We put together an elevator pitch, we know how to explain our value, and we share our expertise. But often, asking questions can be just as, if not more, important that all of this. Questions function in many key ways across our business, and they are a key communication tool that professionals should be ready to employ. Here are a few ways in which asking good questions can support your success:

Understand Your Audience

To make your marketing and prospecting efforts most effective, it’s essential to understand your audience. You can start by posing the question to yourself. Based on your experience with clients, what is it that they want? What are their main concerns? What do they need from you as a professional? It’s also wise to let this question fuel some research. Are there specific demographics you tend to work with more than others? How can you learn more about them? Getting online and reading up about your target audience is important. It’s also key to tune into your current and past clients. Ask them about their expectations and concerns, and seek out feedback from past clients.

Show Your Clients That You Care

When you ask questions to your current clients, you instantly personalize the experience. Sure, clients want to hear what you do and how you do it, but they also want to ensure that it’s the right fit for them. They want to trust that you see them as more than just another client. When you ask detailed questions and pay attention to the answers, your clients will feel valued. They’ll also feel reassured in your ability to help them.

Connect with Team Members

Strong communication with team members is essential for streamlined service, and that communication needs to go both ways. It can’t just be you updating your team members and telling them what you need. It also needs to be you checking in. Ask your team members where they’re at or if they need anything from you. It’s also important that you can ask them questions and request help when you need it.

Strive for Improvement

Feedback is powerful fuel for improvement, so, ask your past clients for their thoughts. Rather than just ‘how was your experience?’ though, see if you can pose a few more specific questions as well. Focus these on areas where you think you may need to make some improvements. The feedback that you receive can illuminate the steps you need to take to progress. It’s also important to ask these questions to yourself. Taking time to regularly reflect and ask yourself where you’re excelling and where you need more work helps professionals to thrive. Even more, staying curious and asking questions is how you can grow your knowledge and continue to learn throughout your career.

 

What do you think about the role of questions in your business? They’re a key element of communication, and we don’t always give them enough focus. For me, they plan a powerful role in almost every aspect of my business.

The Power of Positivity

For ambitious professionals, success is likely a top priority. But it isn’t the only thing that matters in the workplace. If you’re unhappy in your work, burnt out, and pessimistic, that success becomes more difficult to achieve. Even if you do find the success you’re seeking, with a negative mindset, you’re not likely to be able to appreciate it or maintain it. A positive mindset is a powerful tool for professionals today. It serves them in multiple areas of their business, and it helps them achieve and maintain long-lasting success. Here’s why I think it’s so important:

Motivation

Our attitude often dictates how we approach our work. When we have a negative attitude, it can be difficult to connect to the meaning in what we’re doing. We’re not as motivated to engage, and even the smallest things that go wrong can cause our stress levels to spike. On the flip side, when we think positively, we tend to stay inspired. We’re eager to do our work and we approach it with curiosity and determination.

Goals

When you have a negative attitude, you tend to think about what could go wrong. You focus on your limitations and the reasons you have failed in the past. Not surprisingly, this isn’t great fuel for setting and achieving goals. When we’re more positive though, we focus on possibility. It’s not that we ignore the potential for things to go wrong, but we focus on the potential for them to go right instead. This leads to more ambitious goals and a strong commitment to seeing them through.

Productivity

Positive people tend to be more productive. They’re not weighed down by negative thoughts, and they tend to be less stressed. Because they’re in a healthy place mentally, they’re able to work at an optimal pace. On the other hand, negative thinking can lead to procrastination and distraction, slowing down our workflow.

Communication

The way we interact with others is largely dependent on our mindset and attitude. Whether it’s networking with new connections, working with clients, or collaborating with coworkers, a positive mindset supports fruitful connections. It makes us more confident, open to new ideas, and more likable overall. When you have a negative attitude, the people you interact with can often sense it. You may appear more reserved, feel threatened by others in your industry, or seem disengaged or rushed. None of these fosters valuable connection.

Work Culture

Positivity isn’t just something in our heads, it’s also something that can be perceived in the overall energy of an office. It’s a significant part of work culture that can be hard to quantify, but easy to pick up on. It’s in the way employees work together as a team, it’s people who are motivated to do their work, its people who enjoy coming into the office. These things all contribute to a healthy work culture.

 

While it’s no doubt important to focus on success, it shouldn’t be at the expense of positivity. A positive mindset is a powerful force that can support you throughout your career. How important do you find positivity in your work life? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Communicating Gratitude

By now, you’ve probably heard the positive benefits gratitude can have in your personal life, with things like gratitude journals becoming very popular. But learning to communicate gratitude can also be highly beneficial in your professional life as well. It can give you a boost in multiple areas and make your overall work-life a bit more pleasant. Here are three key areas where it can have an impact:

With Clients

Your clients probably thank you for your services all the time, but those clients are also incredibly valuable to you. Without them, what would your business be? Expressing gratitude to clients can really elevate their experience and help you stand out as a top-notch professional. Ending a meeting with a simple thank you is great, but professionals can take it a step further. For loan officers, for example, when a client closes on their loan, a handwritten thank you can be a powerful demonstration of who you are as a professional. Showing clients that you appreciate them makes them more likely to give you their repeat business and to send you referrals.

With Coworkers

When you work in an industry where teamwork is a part of the job, gratitude is key. It can be one of the single most important elements that help a team function well. Sure, everyone might be great at his or her own job, but if no one is valuing what anyone else is doing, the energy of the team can take a hit. Gratitude paves the way for positivity and open communication. It helps every team member see the importance of their role and feel seen by their coworkers. How we express gratitude to our coworkers is often based on the existing work culture. If you work in an office where it’s common to thank one another for the work you do, that’s great. If not, you can start the change. You don’t need to make a fuss, just a simple thank you can go a long way.

With Yourself

Finding meaning and value in our own work is incredibly important when it comes to staying engaged and preventing burnout. Gratitude can be a great tool to help you do this. When you take just a bit of time to appreciate the work you’re able to do, the job you have, the career you’re building — you’re supporting a mindset of success. Gratitude can also help keep stress levels low. When you’re in a challenging time at work, spending even thirty seconds to highlight a few things that you’re grateful for can give you the mental energy you need to push through.

 

Gratitude certainly has a place in our professional lives. Regularly expressing our appreciation can benefit multiple aspects of our business. How are you communicating gratitude when it comes to your work life? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The Networking Mistakes That Can Sabotage Success

Networking is an important activity for driven professionals. It can help them to build their brand, expand their opportunities, and grow their business. While most professionals have the best intentions when it comes to networking, there are some common mistakes that can dramatically limit their success. The more aware professionals are of these errors, the better they can avoid making them themselves. Here are some of the top mistakes that can sabotage your networking efforts:

Your main focus is on what you can gain.

Networking is certainly beneficial for professionals, but when that is their main focus, it can limit their success. Instead of approaching each interaction thinking about what you can gain, professionals should be thinking about what they have to offer. When you’re only focused on your own gains, your efforts can come across as disingenuous. When you flip your perspective and focus on how you can bring value to the other person, you can change the entire tone of the interaction. You can make a more authentic connection and build a stronger foundation for an ongoing relationship.

You rely on social media to build and maintain your network.

There’s no doubt that social media is a great tool for professionals. When it comes to networking, connecting with new people, especially on sites like LinkedIn, can be a strategy to grow your web of contacts. Unfortunately, some professionals begin to rely on this as their only strategy. To build a strong network of valuable connections, professionals need to push beyond online connections. Get to networking events and meet people in person, consider reaching out to an online connection to set up an in-person meeting. When you combine online efforts with in-person ones, you’ll maximize the efficacy of your networking efforts.

Your efforts are only directed towards making new connections.

Sure, we all want to grow our network, and making new connections is an important part of the puzzle. But if our network is full of mostly new connections with whom we’ve had little interaction, we’re hardly reaching its full potential. A beneficial network requires regular maintenance and strengthening. As much as you focus on making new connections, you also need to work on developing the ones you have. Don’t neglect older contacts. All connections are valuable, and extending the effort to maintain them is an essential strategy for growing a powerful network.

You don’t follow up.

Some people tend to wait for the other person to reach out. And when they don’t hear anything, they let the connection drop off. Following up can help set a connection in stone. It shows that you’re engaged and interested, and it makes the other person feel valued. It only takes a minute to send a follow-up email, and making that move to schedule a call or in-person meeting or simply to say thank you for an earlier conversation can step your networking efforts up to the next level.

 

Ambitious professionals can’t afford to make these networking mistakes. A network is an incredibly valuable tool, and when you’re able to avoid these common mistakes, you can really maximize its potential. Do you have any other networking mistakes that professionals should be cautious to avoid? Please share them!

Networking is an important activity for driven professionals. It can help them to build their brand, expand their opportunities, and grow their business. While most professionals have the best intentions when it comes to networking, there are some common mistakes that can dramatically limit their success. The more aware professionals are of these errors, the better they can avoid making them themselves. Here are some of the top mistakes that can sabotage your networking efforts:

Your main focus is on what you can gain.

Networking is certainly beneficial for professionals, but when that is their main focus, it can limit their success. Instead of approaching each interaction thinking about what you can gain, professionals should be thinking about what they have to offer. When you’re only focused on your own gains, your efforts can come across as disingenuous. When you flip your perspective and focus on how you can bring value to the other person, you can change the entire tone of the interaction. You can make a more authentic connection and build a stronger foundation for an ongoing relationship.

You rely on social media to build and maintain your network.

There’s no doubt that social media is a great tool for professionals. When it comes to networking, connecting with new people, especially on sites like LinkedIn, can be a strategy to grow your web of contacts. Unfortunately, some professionals begin to rely on this as their only strategy. To build a strong network of valuable connections, professionals need to push beyond online connections. Get to networking events and meet people in person, consider reaching out to an online connection to set up an in-person meeting. When you combine online efforts with in-person ones, you’ll maximize the efficacy of your networking efforts.

Your efforts are only directed towards making new connections.

Sure, we all want to grow our network, and making new connections is an important part of the puzzle. But if our network is full of mostly new connections with whom we’ve had little interaction, we’re hardly reaching its full potential. A beneficial network requires regular maintenance and strengthening. As much as you focus on making new connections, you also need to work on developing the ones you have. Don’t neglect older contacts. All connections are valuable, and extending the effort to maintain them is an essential strategy for growing a powerful network.

You don’t follow up.

Some people tend to wait for the other person to reach out. And when they don’t hear anything, they let the connection drop off. Following up can help set a connection in stone. It shows that you’re engaged and interested, and it makes the other person feel valued. It only takes a minute to send a follow-up email, and making that move to schedule a call or in-person meeting or simply to say thank you for an earlier conversation can step your networking efforts up to the next level.

 

Ambitious professionals can’t afford to make these networking mistakes. A network is an incredibly valuable tool, and when you’re able to avoid these common mistakes, you can really maximize its potential. Do you have any other networking mistakes that professionals should be cautious to avoid? Please share them!

How to Be Accessible to Your Clients While Maintaining Boundaries

For professionals who regularly interface with their clients, it’s no doubt that strong communication skills are important. Just as important as being able to deliver messages clearly and listen well, though, is being able to maintain healthy boundaries around communication. While not all clients will need clear boundaries, it’s important to have them in place and make them clear. That way, when you do encounter a client who’s used to connecting on the phone at 10pm, for example, you’re prepared to deal with that right away. These boundaries aren’t a reflection of not caring about your work. In fact, they’re just the opposite. Setting clear boundaries helps you maintain the work-life balance necessary to support your success. Here are some tips to establish and enforce these communication boundaries:

Get Clear

You have to know what your boundaries are before you can enforce them. And there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Maybe you’re a professional who doesn’t mind fielding an incoming call at 8pm or on a weekend morning. Or perhaps you like to keep more traditional hours. And it’s not just calls. What are your strategies around emails, text messages, and social-media messages? What if a client has an urgent matter to discuss? Thinking about how and when you want to be contacted is key.

Set a Precedent

Show your clients what’s acceptable. They’re often trying to follow your lead. This could mean having a specific discussion about your availability and office hours, or it could be as simple as leading by example. If they call you late in the evening and leave a voicemail about a routine matter, return their call the following morning. Don’t apologize for missing the call, just let them know that for non-urgent after-hours calls, you’ll always follow up the following business day. You might also let them know that email could be a better way to reach you, or that if they feel like they need a longer call, scheduling a bit in advance is best. You determine what works for you and uphold it.

Batch Check Emails

When you work with multiple clients, it can feel like there’s a nearly constant stream of incoming emails. These can grab your focus both in and out of the office. Instead of letting every email make you pause, consider batch checking your messages. For some professionals, this could mean checking your email once an hour throughout the workday. For others who may receive more urgent messages regularly, this might be a strategy to employ when they have a complex project that really needs their focus.

Set Out-of-Office Hours

Many clients will appreciate your clarity. If you don’t operate on a 9am-5pm schedule but do have a clear schedule for yourself, let your clients know. Perhaps you’re available from 7am-4pm or 1pm-9pm for phone calls. If it’s outside of these hours and it’s a non-urgent matter, perhaps email is the best way to reach you. If a client has an emergency, is a text message the most appropriate way to reach out? Let them know your schedule and what your accessibility is like outside of that.

Be Upfront

The key with all of this is being upfront. You shouldn’t feel guilty for respecting the boundaries you put in place, and when you make them clear to clients ahead of time, you can often avoid that. This doesn’t need to be a big conversation or detailed email. It can simply be a quick note when you begin working together. “I typically work from this time to this time. If you need to reach me outside of that, this is the best way to do so. If it’s not urgent, trust that you’ll hear back from me the next day.” When you’re upfront, clients are much more likely to respect the boundaries you’ve put in place.

 

Have you considered your communication boundaries with your clients? Not only do these protect your own work-life balance, but they also help to preserve positive client relationships. Do you have any other tips for creating and maintaining these boundaries? Share them with us!

Is Your Body Language Supporting Your Communication?

When we think about communication, verbal and written communication tend to be the first forms that come to mind. But these aren’t the only way we communicate. Though we’re not always aware of it, our body language plays a significant role in our communication as well. It’s important to think about this in two ways. First, what is your body language saying to those you’re communicating with? If you haven’t given it much thought, you could be sending unintentional messages. Second, what is the body language of other people telling you? If you want to step up your communication skills, tuning into this can help you do so. So, what are we focusing on when thinking about body language? Here’s a breakdown:

Posture

Posture says a lot about how we feel about ourselves in a situation. Are you feeling confident and self-assured? You’re likely standing tall with your shoulders back. Are you feeling intimidated or nervous? You might have hunched shoulders and a bit of a slouch. In addition to confidence, posture also speaks to our openness. Have you ever spoken to someone who had their arms crossed for the entire conversation? It tends to feel like they’re closed off and not as receptive to what we’re saying. It can make it more difficult to trust and open up to them.

Walk

The way we walk is also sending messages to those around us. If you shuffle into a meeting with your head down, you’re not communicating your full potential. It contributes to appearing insecure and unsure. Similar to your posture, your walk can demonstrate self-assuredness. When you take real strides and don’t hesitate to enter a room, it shows you’re confident and eager about whatever you’re heading into. It shows you’re ready to participate.

Space

How do you position yourself in space? Some people tend to pull inward, taking up as little space as possible. This can stem from a lack of confidence, but it can also stem from always trying to please those around you. Either way, it doesn’t help you appear to be confident and capable. If you’re working with a client or making a new connection, you want that person to understand your value. If you’re hunched over with crossed legs and your hands in your lap, for example, it doesn’t send the message that you have a lot to offer. On the flip side, when we actively take up space by sitting up tall, planting our feet on the ground, and using our hands to express ourselves, it communicates a level of engagement and presence to whoever we’re communicating with. It shows that you understand your value and are confident that you have something to share.

 

Hands

In addition to using our hands to support our speech, our hands also often help us make a first impression. A handshake can say a lot. We’ve all been introduced to someone whose hand has felt limp in that initial handshake. It’s not a great impression. While you don’t want to go overboard with your grip, a strong handshake sends a signal. It’s a show of power. Not in a competitive, power-struggle way, but in a way that shows you’re confident in yourself.

Face

When you’re talking with someone in person, your eyes are on their face, and you’re constantly getting cues from it. Are they avoiding eye contact? That can make us feel like they have something to hide, aren’t being honest, or are nervous or uncomfortable. Good eye contact shows that they’re engaged. Are they smiling? Especially if someone is telling us a longer story, we may not think about the facial expression we have on. Maintaining a bit of a smile can help keep a positive tone and show that you’re interested. Simple gestures, like nodding and raising your eyebrows, can also show that you’re present in the conversation and actively listening to what they have to say.

 

If you want to improve your communication skills, you need to look at all aspects of communication. Though body language may be a more subtle means of communication, it still sends important messages, whether you intend it to or not. Take advantage of this fact and ensure that your body language is sending the message you want it to.

What Makes an Effective Email?

No matter what kind of professional you are, chances are you send your fair share of emails. For such a common mode of communication, we rarely take the time to learn how to make it effective. Think about your own inbox. Some emails grab your attention and tell you what you need to know, while others blend into the noise of countless incoming messages. Where do your messages stand in other people’s inbox? To ensure your messages are seen and understood, there are several things you can focus on:

Utilize the Subject Line

The subject line is the first step in cutting through the noise in someone’s inbox. If they’re busy, it can also help alert them to the level of urgency of your message. Subject lines should be clear and direct, and they should also be short. With so many of us checking email on smartphones, you don’t want your subject line getting cut off. Depending on the subject matter, you could consider making your subject line a question or including a specific deadline. Though you don’t want to spend too much time here, it’s worth spending a few extra seconds to make it more likely that your message is read.

Dive In

Whether you’re emailing a single coworker or a marketing list of hundreds, it’s usually wise to get straight to the point. You don’t want to risk the heart of your message being missed because it was buried halfway through the message. Most of us get so many emails that we try to work through them as efficiently as possible. This doesn’t necessarily mean just giving them a glance, but it does often mean a quick scan to get the gist before looking more closely if needed. It’s also worth noting that in many email services, the first line or two of your message could be previewed for your recipient, so cutting to the chase can help them get a sense of the content before they even open it.

Get Organized

Think about the emails you appreciate versus the ones that force you to read multiple times to get the point. The real difference is often about organization. You want to make it as easy and convenient for your recipient to digest your message. Things like lists, bullets, bold, and italics can help a reader to quickly get an overview of the content. Even just properly spacing out paragraphs can be a help to your reader.

Keep it Concise

In most cases, we want to keep our emails short and sweet. It comes back to that same idea that most of us have a pretty constant incoming flood of messages. Just put yourself in the recipient’s position. What kind of email would you want to receive? What information is necessary to include? Give it a read at the end and do a quick scan for any superfluous info.

Include a Call to Action

This is primarily for your marketing emails, but asking your reader to do something and giving them a convenient way to do it can help get you the results you’re looking for. Whether you hyperlink to a blog on your webpage or something else you want readers to see or do, when you make it as simple as clicking a button within your email, they’re often much more likely to do it.

 

If you’re wanting to improve your email skills, think about your own inbox. Start noticing what kind of emails are a breeze for you to read and which are a bit of a frustration. Are there some emails you delete before opening or other messages that you see but decide to save for later? When you think from the recipient’s perspective and use some of the strategies mentioned above, you can quickly step up your email game.

Keeping Your Online Communication Skills Strong

In our world today, online communication skills are essential. While in some cases, in-person communication skills translate to online ones, there are some specific areas you want to focus on when it comes to communicating online. Online communication refers to exchanges like emailing and Facebook messaging, but it also includes content you share that contributes to your brand. Here are some of the most important things to consider when thinking about your online communication skills:

Frequency

To maximize your efforts, especially when it comes to marketing, branding, and building your online presence, frequency is key. You might be sharing interesting content or posting helpful tips, but if it’s sporadic, it’s not contributing much to your overall brand. Though your audience might appreciate these things, if you’re sharing them infrequently, you’re not giving them a reason to keep you in mind. When you post regularly, you stay on people’s radar. All those individual posts, comments, and shares add up to a powerful online presence that people can remember.

Tone

While tone is important in both online and in-person communication, we have less to work with online. Without our audible voice, facial expressions, and body language, the words we choose and how we phrase things take center stage when communicating online. The idea here is that your tone should match your brand, and it should be consistent throughout all your online material. Whether it’s a description on your webpage, a blog article you write, or a comment you reply to on Facebook, the way you write sends a message that’s just as important as the subject you’re writing about.

Content

How are we communicating online? Often, it’s through the content we share. It may be sharing content that someone else created, or it may be creating your own original content to share with your audience. While you don’t need to write a blog post a day, I’d recommend including at least some original content in your online communication. This helps your audience to get a real sense of you. It’s also important that the content is offering value. It’s not just about showing up on someone’s newsfeed. If your content isn’t useful, people will start to tune it out. Focus on your audience’s interests and concerns, and address these in your content. It’s also a great idea to occasionally ask for feedback so that you can continue tailoring to best fit your audience.

Engagement

When you’re interacting in person, it’s easier to engage your conversation partner. You can simply ask them a question and you give them a way to participate. Online, you also want to be thinking about how you can get your audience to engage. The key here is making it easy. And once people do engage, you need to make sure you’re there to interact with them. When you share something on Facebook, consider putting a question out to your audience. Invite questions and comments, and ensure that when people share these, you write back promptly. When you create opportunities for your audience to engage, you help them make a deeper connection and start building trust.

 

Online communication skills are essential to building a strong, engaging brand. It’s a great idea to regularly check in and assess how you’re doing. Are people engaging with your content? Are you getting back to people’s messages? Does the material on your website feel current? Online communication isn’t static. It’s a constant flow of information, so making adjustments is easy. Do you have any other tips for online communication? I’d love to hear your thoughts.