Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

Podcasts and Super Powers

September 3, 2017

Super Powers

I was just after dropping my brother Colin and his family at Shannon Airport for their early flight back to the States.

I wasn’t quite in the mood for music as I faced that awful Limerick to Cork road so I searched some Podcasts that I had downloaded to pass the horrible journey.

First up was an interview with a former news anchor who has since specialised in Digital Marketing – I fully agree with the core theme of the conversation, which was all about discovering the passion behind the people and showing some personality and even a little vulnerability through genuine social media updates and storytelling via blogs.

The second podcast that took me all the way to my front door was an interview with a guy who worked as Head of Creative in an advertising agency.

The interviewer used a series of clever ‘quick fire’ questions to get to know this guy a little better and he asked a fantastic one, which I thought was really simple but also thought provoking and quite brilliant.

“What is your work Super Power?” he asked this clearly successful Creative Director.

The answer he gave was one that I wasn’t expecting: “Resilience” he answered.

The interviewee went on to explain that in his career he received many knocks and push backs but he used all of these as ‘fuel’ to try harder and prove others wrong.

He also explained that in the course of his business he had lost many pitches to prospective clients – once again these just made him more determined to succeed next time.

He reckoned this try and try again  ‘Super Power‘ was his greatest asset that had led to career success.

Having someone on your team that is very resilient is definitely a huge advantage.

He also mentioned another ‘Super Power‘ which was his ability to survive on very little sleep, which he reckoned was also a big plus in the advertising industry!

The very unusual thing about these ‘Super Powers’ is that while they are clearly valuable they are things that you would never see listed in someone’s bio in a pitch document or on your website.

I really found this question to be a powerful one – as we are in the middle of updating the bios for our team I was struggling a little with descriptions that in some cases just weren’t capturing some of the special and most valuable attributes that our crew possess. I’m going to add a ‘Super Power’ description for everyone!

So…the valuable lessons that I learnt at 7am on a crappy Sunday morning – listen to Podcasts that might help you to learn something new and try to capture the ‘Super Powers’ of your team!

What is your Super Power?

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications, a full-service agency that offers Marketing, PR and Branding  services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

 

 

 

 

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Communications, Creativity, Inspiration, Motivation, Passion, Personal development, Positivity, Staff training, Teamwork | 1 Comment »

Time to Prioritise Caring

December 30, 2016

Caring

As we roll into another year we inevitably start thinking about the things we have achieved and the things we want and wish for in the new year.

If I was to express my wishes for next year in one word I would choose the word “Caring“.

I’m not sure if it is just now that I feel there is a real deficit of caring in the world, if it is just what I am seeing and reading or whether it is a reflection of my age and if I am starting to think and observe things differently?

I am worried that there is not enough caring in the world and I feel that this year has plummeted with awful incidents in Nice, Berlin, Aleppo and some of the horribleness that we witnessed in the United States by the President Elect, Donald Trump in his campaign.

Lessons in how to win elections were absorbed by a new generation and “caring” isn’t quite the word that comes to mind when you reflect on what we saw being played out for months and months in the lead up to the awful result.

Closer to home our year ended in Ireland with the homeless coming together under the simple ‘Home Sweet Home‘ banner and they occupied an unused office building, Apollo House to put much needed roofs over heads and put a public spotlight on this big issue, which is getting worse and worse. The homeless need this as they can’t go on strike to get attention.

We heard the involvement of high profile Irish musicians including Glen Hansard and Hozier being sadly criticised by some in the media as being a stunt by them to raise their popularity!

What has happened with the way we think about things?

The courts moved in double quick time (they can when they want to) incredibly to process an injunction against the occupants.

The very sad “win” was that the homeless were allowed stay in the disused office building until January 11th – Merry Christmas!!

When living in a disused office block over Christmas is considered a win for those poor temporary residents we have arrived at a very poor state of affairs. Unfortunately this was a win for them – can you imagine?

My wish for the new year is that we start genuinely caring for each other, that we teach our children the importance of caring and let them witness it everyday, that we teach caring in our schools, that we make caring a priority in our workplaces, that caring becomes part of the values that companies live by and that we put caring for people in our communities, on our roads, in our cities and countries before any other criteria.

Let’s start caring.

Happy New Year and a big thank you to all the readers of my blog posts – see you next year!!

Greg

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion who offer Strategic Communications, Marketing, PR, Graphic Design services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Charities, Equality, Ethics, Family, Friendship, Homelessness, Motivation, Parenting, Politics, Racism, Reputation, Strikes, Teamwork, Tourism | 3 Comments »

Feeding the fly on the wall

October 5, 2014

fly on the wallIn many ways we are all a little curious..

What are they really like, what is she like, are they nice people, what is the spirit of the place, what do they really believe in, is it all about profit, what does he do in his spare time, what experience does she have, what happens behind the scenes, what is their process, how committed are they to results, what are they passionate about, what is it like to work there, what are the people like that do the real work that we never get to meet?

At times we would love to be a fly on the wall to see first hand what the real story is so that we could really get a sense of that person, that business, that organisation – can we believe in them enough to trust them and maybe even do business with them?

Next time you tweet, post on Facebook, write a blog post, publish a photo, update your bio or post on LinkedIn think about that fly on the wall and feed him well!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Contact me if you are interested in the Power You online reputation programme which I will be starting soon in Dublin and Cork: greg@fuzion.ie

Fuzion offer Social Media Consultancy and Training in Dublin and Cork

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, Personal Marketing, Social Media, Training, Twitter | 3 Comments »

Blogging can change your Business

February 27, 2014

Blogging for BusinessIn the international Business Week magazine recently they featured “Blogging can Change your Business” as their cover page headline.

The basic message in the article is that blogging can be a huge asset and a key tool in your communications arsenal when used correctly. When it works for you it will bring you business as I have found myself with Fuzion.

This is far from the often held impression that blogging is for enthusiasts or hobbyists who like committing their thoughts and opinions about their favourite topics online.

Blogging for Business Course

In the meantime you might read my 13 Tips about Blogging and Making some Noise!

Blogging Tips by Greg Canty, Fuzion PR

What’s it to be?

Blogging is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and get your message out there and I find more and more we are encouraging our clients to jump in and let the world hear what they have to say ….make some noise!

Once your blog post is written it makes great raw material to feed your social media activity or even to pitch to the media if it is in relation to some issue that is quite topical. Interested readers (hopefully some of these are potential customers) can subscribe to your blog and will then get automatic updates whenever you post something new.

This all sounds fabulous and it really is once you are up and running but the tough part is starting!

Often I find a client will put a week’s thought, deliberation and work into a single blog post and the monumental effort will ensure that it will be their first and last – writing isn’t easy, it is a skill that needs to be practised the same as anything else and I guess it comes easier to some than to others.

What I can promise is that once you are up and running it will get easier and easier, but you have to allow yourself  a learning curve and you will soon discover a style that you are comfortable with.

Get it right and not only will you enjoy it, but it will help to bring you and your business visibility, which should help to bring you business.

Blooging Tips by Greg Canty, Fuzion PR

Power blog!

I have put together a few tips about blogging that might help you along the way!

  1. Keep the blog post as short as possible (just enough to make your point)
  2. Try to write in the “first person” if possible
  3. Avoid using technical/industry jargon (unless it is for a very technical audience)
  4. Keep it topical (where possible try making your point using some issue that is current)
  5. If the blog post is taking more than half an hour to write then you are probably thinking about it too much!
  6. Always try to include a relevant visual – people love pictures!
  7. Blog as frequently as possible (at least once a week is a good target)
  8. Mix your topics and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through
  9. Keep a note book (your smart phone might help) to jot down ideas for blog posts – they will come to you at the strangest of times, believe me!
  10. Optimise your keywords – if you want your blog post to be found try to work the important keywords (the ones that a typical user might use if they were searching on the topic) into the blog heading, the first paragraph and your keyword tags. Make sure you categorise and tag your blog post once it is done.
  11. Include hyperlinks (simply the web addresses of other relevant content) – links to your website, links to the writers LinkedIn Account, links to other resources on the web.
  12. Blogging is just the start – make sure you push it out through your social media channels to get value for all of your hard work
  13. Unlucky for some but not for you – Go on …..www.wordpress.com , what are you waiting for?

Looking forward to reading what you have to say

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer Social Media Consultancy and Training in Dublin and Cork

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Marketing | Leave a Comment »

The blog about blogging

January 24, 2014

Blogging for business

I was in the Guinness Storehouse last week at a client event and two people I had never met before came up to me and started chatting to me because of blogs of mine that they read. One of these conversations was on the way into the loo!

One of these posts was about the Jobbridge scheme and the other was about companies undoing the good by overselling.

Yesterday afternoon I came across an incredible blog post via Twitter , which gave me huge insight into the life of a friend of mine.

It struck home to me once again the reach and impact that blogs have and how powerful this activity has been for me and for our business, Fuzion.

I’m dedicated to writing at least one blog post every week, which I publish and circulate across my different social media platforms. Typically I will write it over the weekend on the laptop or first thing in the morning like this one ..

You could be reading this post from an email or direct from my blog site or you may have stumbled across it as a follower of mine or Fuzion on twitter, a friend of mine on Facebook, a fan of the Fuzion business page on Facebook or maybe on LinkedIn, either as a status update or posted as a discussion post on a LinkedIn group.

In any scenario I write my blog post, which gives me the ability to reach a big audience across a variety of platforms.

Hopefully anyone who reads them will find the posts interesting (I vary them between technical marketing orientated posts, some business observations and some very random personal and other posts) and as a result will form some sort of an opinion about me and Fuzion. Hopefully these opinions are good and if the need arises for our range of services we will be in the frame as a possible provider!

Yes, that is a reason that I write them but I also write them because I enjoy writing, connecting and receiving feedback. I get a buzz from them … Sad but true !

My blogs are hosted on the WordPress platform, which is easy to use, is well optimised and it provides me with great stats and insights about how readers came to my site and which posts have been read the most (or least!).

In terms of ideas I use a little notepad on my iPhone where I jot them down when they come to me and when I have time I have a peep at my list …. sometimes I see these notes and I just can’t figure out what I had in mind when I jotted them down!

So …. The big question – why blog at all?

Here are my reasons why you might consider it –

Social Media Noise – it is hard to grab attention online at this stage as it is a very congested place. By generating your own (hopefully quality) content you can stand out.

Expertise – what better way to demonstrate your expertise about your business than writing about it?

Passion – if you are passionate about what you do, your blog is a terrific way to demonstrate this. Passion is hard to hide!

Optimisation – at a very practical level if you write online about your subject matter enough and use the right keywords and follow some simple SEO protocol you will be found much easier by people searching

Writing Skills – blog writing sharpens your writing skills and it also helps to formulate your ideas and thoughts properly around your topics

Idea generation – once you commit to a blog a week/day/month you will be surprised how ideas come to you and how much sharper your mind gets after a while

Testing topics – you can gauge media potential for a topic through a blog post

Rant! – sometimes you might need to take on a topic or issue online and writing a blog and distributing it through your social media platforms can be extremely powerful.

Business – if you do it right with a clear focus and some patience your efforts will result in new business

Personality – your blog is a great way for people to get to know you, understand you, see what motivates and inspires you and possibly wish to do business with you. The platform gives you an opportunity to be less formal on a website for example.

Social Media Raw Material – After a while you will build up a bank of blog posts, which can provide valuable material to feed your hungry social media platforms. Many of your blog posts, depending on the topic are capable of being recycled – great tips and advice will not date.

This prize is there waiting for you (most of your competitors surprisingly won’t grab it) so it is up to you to seize the opportunity and be the one in your sector who is winning by blogging.

It might feel strange at first but like everything practice makes perfect and in no time at all you will be flying ..

Go on …you are just one click away!

Check out Tips about Blogging and Making some Noise

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design agency in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Marketing, Personal development, Personal Marketing, Social Media, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »

Looking after your own house ..

July 24, 2013

Dream House

Are you like us with the best of intentions not getting to things you had promised you would do?

One of the things I promised we would do this year was to make sure that we did not neglect our “own house“.

It’s obviously really important that all of our client work comes first but it’s also vital that we don’t neglect Fuzion. Every day we work with our clients following carefully written plans so that they can promote their business through PR, Social Media, Advertising, E-newsletters, through their website, by blogging and with their printed materials.

We stress the importance of “looking the part” ensuring that their branding is consistent, properly reflecting the quality of their business across printed and on-line platforms.

We’ve all heard the expression “the mechanics car” and I’m afraid that we are guilty of this. We are not the worst but there are things that we have been meaning to do for “our house” for quite a while but we always seem to struggle to get to them.

The guys in the design team are doing fabulous work for clients and I’ve been at them to showcase this properly on our website, through communications like this one and even within our own office. We have done some great work that we have been meaning to display on the walls of the office for the last six months. I’m waiting!

I’ve been at the PR team to start blogging more and demonstrate the expertise that we possess in-house. I’ve been at the guys to be more proactive on social media. We’ve had some huge client successes this year that we probably should have publicised. I’ve had the job of making sure we issue our e-newsletter (this one!) regularly – it’s not happening!

When you are busy it’s always the same – it’s easy to push your own work down to the bottom of the queue because there is always something to do for a client, which after all does pay the bills.

If Fuzion were our client, I’d have a strong word with them ..

Are you looking after your own house?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Design firm in Ireland with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:,
Posted in Blogging, Business Planning, Customer Care, Marketing, Motivation | 6 Comments »

Snap into it

May 17, 2013
Bueller

Anyone, anyone, anyone?

“Snap out of it” I had to tell myself.

I do a lot of social media training and consultancy both directly for  clients and as part of organised courses for the Enterprise Boards and the Digital Marketing Institute.

I use a suite of materials to deliver this training including some very detailed notes that cover the whole area including blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and some of the other emerging platforms and trends in social media.

In the last few weeks I have found myself delivering a huge volume of training and on this particular day I found myself delivering a module to a client group in the morning and a similar programme in the evening to a group of SME’s as part of training for one of the Enterprise Boards.

Facing into delivering the same material on literally the same day and feeling really tired my motivation level had dropped.

I started to question myself as I drove to the hotel:

Was I getting bored with my own material?  

Would I be able to deliver a good session?

I was wallowing ..

Hold on (big conversation with self!)…you have been crafting your training materials for a few years, you have continuously improved the programme, you not only understand the material intimately but you know how to deliver it in a way that keeps the group engaged and learning – Besides you know you are passionate about this whole area.

This group of SME’s have signed up for the programme, they have given up their evenings to learn about something that could make a big difference for their business and you know you can show them how, in a really practical way.

After giving myself a few virtual slaps in the face and a big kick up the bum I managed to change my gears and open that door – “who wants to tell world about how great their business is?”

We had a great session ..in fact it was the best reaction to a session that I had in the last few weeks and after it I was buzzing.

What you get from any group at a meeting or a presentation is often down to what you bring in the door with you ..your frame of mind, your attitude, your belief, your energy and your enthusiasm.

Snap into it ..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion with offices in Cork and Dublin offer social media training and consultancy in Ireland

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Marketing, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity, Social Media, Training, Twitter | 5 Comments »

Are you leaving breadcrumbs?

April 20, 2013

Leaving breadcrumbs

“You are doing a lot of work in Dublin these days” she said to me.

“We are, but how did you know that?” I asked

“Oh ..I figured that out from your Facebook posts” she said

That conversation was about five years ago and it was at an event for a client in Dublin – for me it was what I call my “penny drop” moment about social media. At that time I was using Facebook, just like everyone else posting the odd thing about what I was doing and where I was going. In fact, I think I wasn’t that sure what I should have been posting and even how relevant social media might be for business.

It dawned on me that with every post you make people are watching, digesting and forming impressions about you and what you are all about. Often they won’t comment, reply or even “like” your posts, but they are listening and soaking up what you are saying.

From that moment I realised the power of social media and the importance of having a clear idea about what picture of you and your business you want to portray.

Every status update, every tweet, every retweet, every like, every share, every favourite, every discussion, every hashtag and every blog post are all little breadcrumbs that you leave to bring the reader to a place you wanted to take them.

Are you leaving breadcrumbs?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion with offices in Cork and Dublin offer social media training and consultancy in Ireland.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter, Web Marketing | 12 Comments »

Chris, Seth, Mitch, Wisdom and the Power of Reply

March 17, 2013

Chris Brogan

It’s Sunday morning and I’m waiting for my weekly email from Chris Brogan, CEO of Human Business Works and co-author of the excellent books Trust Agents and Impact Equation about online and human behaviour.

Every Sunday he writes to me and shares some experience or learning, which is nearly always enriching and really valuable. He does this without fail and incredibly this costs me nothing. I really appreciate his generous spirit and openness and the fact that he does take time to write to me.

Of course he doesn’t write to just me – he has a huge “fan” (he’d never call us that but I’m going to use the word) base and we are all privileged to get his Sunday best!

The other amazing thing about Chris is that he has mastered the art of “reply”. If you send him a simple reply to his Sunday email telling you enjoyed it, he’ll actually come back to you and say thanks.

There is an actual person at the other end of that email who is quite happy to interact with you as well as just broadcast his message ..he’s genuinely interested in what I have to say.

I do appreciate that if he has to reply to thousands of emails he won’t have a life and we do need him to be bright and rested and able to send us those nuggets of wisdom – thanks Chris for your valuable time.

We’re really lucky to have so many really clever and quite brilliant people sharing their insights, experience and very often genius with us online.

I’m talking about bloggers who quite freely share their gems of wisdom on a regular basis with us including people like Chris, Seth Godin and Mitch Joel.

ReplyThe big difference with Chris is that he replies and interacts.

This in my view is the most powerful thing that he does and it’s this that sets him apart from the others..

Click here to sign up for his Sunday Service.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Brand Loyalty, Marketing, Motivation, Positivity, Publishing | 10 Comments »

13 Tips About Blogging & making some noise!

August 23, 2012
Blogging Tips by Greg Canty, Fuzion PR

What’s it to be?

Blogging is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and get your message out there and I find more and more we are encouraging our clients to jump in and let the world hear what they have to say ….make some noise!

Once your blog post is written it makes great raw material to feed your social media activity or even to pitch to the media if it is in relation to some issue that is quite topical. Interested readers (hopefully some of these are potential customers) can subscribe to your blog and will then get automatic updates whenever you post something new.

This all sounds fabulous and it really is once you are up and running but the tough part is starting!

Often I find a client will put a week’s thought, deliberation and work into a single blog post and the monumental effort will ensure that it will be their first and last – writing isn’t easy, it is a skill that needs to be practised the same as anything else and I guess it comes easier to some than to others.

What I can promise is that once you are up and running it will get easier and easier, but you have to allow yourself  a learning curve and you will soon discover a style that you are comfortable with.

Get it right and not only will you enjoy it, but it will help to bring you and your business visibility, which should help to bring you business.

Blooging Tips by Greg Canty, Fuzion PR

Power blog!

I have put together a few tips about blogging that might help you along the way!

  1. Keep the blog post as short as possible (just enough to make your point)
  2. Try to write in the “first person” if possible
  3. Avoid using technical/industry jargon (unless it is for a very technical audience)
  4. Keep it topical (where possible try making your point using some issue that is current)
  5. If the blog post is taking more than half an hour to write then you are probably thinking about it too much!
  6. Always try to include a relevant visual – people love pictures!
  7. Blog as frequently as possible (at least once a week is a good target)
  8. Mix your topics and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through
  9. Keep a note book (your smart phone might help) to jot down ideas for blog posts – they will come to you at the strangest of times, believe me!
  10. Optimise your keywords – if you want your blog post to be found try to work the important keywords (the ones that a typical user might use if they were searching on the topic) into the blog heading, the first paragraph and your keyword tags. Make sure you categorise and tag your blog post once it is done.
  11. Include hyperlinks (simply the web addresses of other relevant content) – links to your website, links to the writers LinkedIn Account, links to other resources on the web.
  12. Blogging is just the start – make sure you push it out through your social media channels to get value for all of your hard work
  13. Unlucky for some but not for you – Go on …..www.wordpress.com , what are you waiting for?

Looking forward to reading what you have to say

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion offer Social Media Consultancy and Training in Dublin and Cork

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Marketing, Personal development, SEO, Social Media, Web Marketing | 15 Comments »