Social Media: The Basics Part 6 (Instagram and Pinterest)

Instagram is a photo sharing app with more than 27 million users. You can use Instagram for capturing event and office culture photos. You can also leverage the application to run contests and scavenger hunts. Before you begin snapping photos and engaging viewers, create a plan to help you create fans. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What does my target audience want to see? 
• How can I get them to engage with my photos?
• What will get them talking about me or my company? 

As you create your visual content, consider the following objectives:

• Make it exclusive. Post images that can only be seen on Instagram.
• Make it visually engaging. Instagram users are savvy, creative, and know a lackluster photo when they see one. Don't post a photo unless it has aesthetic appeal.
• Make it personal. Viewers want to feel like they are part of something so provide an inside glimpse.

The Instagram hashtag is a powerful feature to engage your viewers. Hashtags act as keywords providing a way for people to find photos through a simple search. Hashtages are especially useful as you seek to establish your brand as an industry leader and get more followers. Implement hashtags that are unique to your brand and industry, as well as hashtags that are popular keywords. And remember to use hashtags on all of your posts. 

Pinterest is a virtual scrapbook or pinboard that allows users to share and organize visual imagery. A user can pin anything from around the web and other users can re-pin their images. Users organize their Pinterest pages by categorizing content on boards. 

For businesses, Pinterest can be a way to curate visual content like infographics, videos, company culture, and even blog posts. Pinterest can help promote creativity, but always make sure that your content is relative to your audience. Pinterest pages can also be used for a landing page for an email campaign, event, or presentation. The boards provide a unique way of organizing content to be visually appealing to your prospect. Make sure you are including a good content mix in your Pinterest boards. Followers will want to see a combination of business and culture content. When pinning, pin the most visually interesting aspect of what you are sharing, like a special banner, slide, or cover page to get the most engagement and to make your brand look like it belongs. Pinterest's search is mainly how people find you and your pins, and it is all about keywords. Load up relevant, popular keywords in the description of your pins. Just like any other social media platform,  Pinterest rewards those that bring fresh content. So while it's very easy to fill a board with re-pins, ultimately the fastest way to increase your followership is by pinning new and interesting items. 

So that wraps up my six-part Social Media series. I hope you found these tips useful. See you on the Net! 

Social Media: The Basics Part 5 (Twitter)

Twitter is one of the 10 most popular sites on the Internet, and it is one of my favorite social media sites. You can think of Twitter as a microblogging site because you are limited to sending and receiving extremely short (no more than 140 characters long) text messages (called "tweets") to a pre-defined network of "followers." Twitter is not designed to facilitate an ongoing back-and-forth conversation. Being followed on Twitter is an incredibly strong signal of online affinity for you and your business. Your followers are indicating an active interest in your brand and are asking to hear more from you. On Twitter, it is easy to quickly compose Tweets and messages aimed at those interested in you or your company. Twitter is a useful tool for gathering high-level, up-to-the-minute updates on key news developments from experts who use the medium to share observations and perspectives. It is the fastest and most immediate social platform. 

Becoming someone's follower on Twitter accomplishes several goals:

• You identify Twitter accounts that are relevant and interesting to you, your organization and your industry.
• Receive the latest insights and updates. 
• Increase your visibility on search engines. You let people know that you're on Twitter, and encourage them to follow you back.
• Provide positive PR for you and your business. You associate yourself with a specific group of industry experts and thought leaders, and demonstrate your interest in the space.
• Deepen relationships. Twitter is a great platform for engagement, so once you follow someone on Twitter you can work on starting a conversation.

Here are some tips for following:

• Find people to follow by importing your contact databases using tools that Twitter provides. Then, broaden this action by following those that your followers are following.
• Do a search for experts in the field who are tweeting. You can find people to follow on sites like Wefollow.com or Twibes.com. Twitter offers an integrated search function on each user's homepage that allows you to search all Tweets based on keywords, usernames or subject. Searches can also be performed at search.Twitter.com. 
• The "Who to Follow" feature offered by Twitter can be a useful way to identify Twitter accounts that you wish to follow. 
• Try to make sure to follow back relevant people and companies that are following you.
• Twitter provides easy search functionality so that you can find people that are talking about your company and your industry. 
• Read the tweets of those you follow and search for tweets on keywords relevant to your product or service. Twitter client applications such as TweetDeck, Hootsuite, and Seesmic are useful for organizing your Twitter feeds, managing multiple microblogging accounts, and post or scheduling posting from multiple users.
• Create lists. By creating a list you can easily segment people who you are following. Users may look to organize those users they follow into lists based on background or interest, so that when they click to view a list, they will only see a stream of "tweets" from the users included in that list. For example, on my Twitter page, I have the following lists: social media, blogging, freelancing, finance, careers, behavioral economics, psychology, copywriting, neuroscience, and marketing. Anyone can subscribe to my Twitter lists and follow the same people I do. 

A Twitter chat is a public conversation on Twitter based around a unique hashtag. The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in tweets. It was created by Twitter as a way to categorize messages. The hashtag allows you to follow the discussion and easily participate in it. Most Twitter chats are usually recurring and on specific topics but some are also based around special events. Hosting a Twitter chat is an amazing way to engage with your fans and followers. In addition, this is a great way to better understand and grow your community and to promote your brand and business. Twitter users also have the ability to call out other users in their own tweets by using the @ symbol. When a username is proceeded by the @ symbol, it becomes a link to that Twitter profile. Including the @ symbol directly followed by a username is also called a "mention." 

Twitter is a fantastic platform to learn who your influencers are. Because Twitter is designed for quick exchanges of information and shares, you can start to keep track of who is re-tweeting your content and engaging in conversations. Remember to reach out to your top sharers to create relationships. They may be interested in doing a guest blog or allowing you to do a guest blog on their site. The more you engage directly with your top influencers, the more they will continue to promote your content. 

Do not use Twitter to only promote your company. If you never contribute to the conversations taking place, if you never offer something personal, fun or funny, you are missing the prime opportunity unique to Twitter. Twitter is about building relationships; it is about reciprocity. Engage and be engaged. Be a part of the flow of information. It's in your best interests to pay attention to what your customers and prospective customers are tweeting about and to respond accordingly.

Remember, your content should create value and ultimately, be helpful to your network. Retweeting material that will be helpful to your network is good, but writing your own informational material is even better. If your network benefits from something you tweet about, they will remember you and your business. According to Joe Pulizzi, founder of Junta41 and the Content Marketing Institute, follow the 4-1-1 rule: For every one self-serving tweet, you should re-tweet one relevant tweet and most importantly share four pieces of relevant content written by others. What's great about this approach is that it lets you engage in the conversation, build awareness, and keep in touch with your followers without coming across as pushy or too "me" focused. 

Next week, I'll cover Pinterest and Instagram. Stay tuned!

Social Media: The Basics Part 4 (LinkedIn)

LinkedIn is designed specifically to help business people network. It is the leading social network site for professionals because it is an excellent platform to make connections and to showcase your business. People automatically check LinkedIn to see if you have a "valid" presence. In other words, if you're not in the "Who's Who" (LinkedIn), potential subscribers will question your credibility and trustworthiness. While there is a wide range of professional social media sites out there -- some very general and some industry-specific -- the best-known and most popular is LinkedIn, with over 150 million members worldwide. A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second, and executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members. In a 2011 study conducted by Performics, a research company, nearly 60% of respondents say LinkedIn is their most important social network account. LinkedIn is an excellent source of background information on people and companies, and it provides opportunities to create new relationships. 

LinkedIn is used to:

• Stay in touch/network with industry associates and former co-workers
• Identify potential employers/employees
• Promote your professional services to potential clients
• Use Groups - industry, interests to share and hear ideas related to your profession
• Gain access to a large network by drawing on the connections of other users

One of the primary capabilities of LinkedIn is its ability to connect you to a larger network of people through your own connections. LinkedIn shows you the degrees of separation between you and other LinkedIn users, and lets you connect with those outside of your direct network through introductions. 

Join LinkedIn Groups. This is a fast way to let LinkedIn know your areas of special interest and become part of your desired community. The Groups feature is a great way to demonstrate thought leadership around a specific area. Simply make a list of keywords that relate to your interests and core competencies, and run a search for any LinkedIn Groups related to your keywords. Once you find the right groups, participate in discussion, ask questions and make connections. You can create a higher interaction rate by making sure you join groups aligned to your business mission and interests. For example, on my LinkedIn page, I belong to 25 Groups. You can view my LinkedIn page at: www.linkedin.com/in/valeriealee.

Use LinkedIn Answers to ask thought-provoking questions or become an "expert" by providing valuable answers and demonstrating thought leadership. LinkedIn Answers are a great way for you to showcase your interests, expertise and problem-solving capabilities to entire networks of people. You and others can Search Answers. You can ask a question. You can see a list of the latest questions requesting answers. And you can view a list of your own questions and answers (something that can come in handy, if you want to jog your memory for post ideas). You can also see which questions and categorie generate a high rate of interaction and response as well as which ones fall flat and remain ignored. Going to Answers and viewing the featured Questions in its feed can provide you wtih valuable clues about where to focus your energy. If a particular category is highly active, explore that category. Build your expert status by thinking up strong questions or answering them for that particular category. If nothing else, the answers others give can offer valuable tips and clues in increasing your own business effectiveness. In short, you can use LinkedIn Answers as both a valuable resource in itself and to help you boost your own "expert" authority status. 

Next week, I'll cover one of my favorite social media sites -- Twitter.

Social Media: The Basics Part 3 (Google+)

Google+ is the second largest social network (as of January 2013), and it's the perfect tool for a highly-focused audience that dislikes "wasting time" wading through "sentimental" posts that end with 'if you love your [son, daughter, cat], please repost.' Google+ also pleases those who think visually thanks to Google+ Circles. This functionality allows you to segment your followers. Unlike other social networks, through Circles, you can develop separate personas and communicate highly segmented messaging to each audience. Not only will it help you quickly share highly-customized content with each group, but it will help you organize them in your mind. You'll create the habit of catering to each segment automatically. With Circles, "you can choose who gets to know what," as Google+ puts it. You can include or exclude personal information separately for each circle. For example, you probably wouldn't include your relationship information in your "Work" circle, but you might want to detail your work history. On the other hand, it would be entirely appropriate to include your relationship details, birthday, etc. in your "Close Family and Friends" circle, but you might want to leave out your employment history. In short, Circles is Google's method of organizing connections into groups for more targeted sharing and better privacy.

Another useful tool is the +1 button. It's similar to Facebook's "Like" button, but it carries weight in Google's Search results as well as on the entire World Wide Web. Using the +1 button to favorite others' content will show your photo and link in search results for that item. Think of the +1 button as your recommendation. If part of your services includes sending your subscribers and followers to powerful resources, the +1 button is a natural tool to use, when sharing the content of others. You can share your +1 recommendations in your Circles to get the ball rolling on conversations, share high value resources and links, and to put your personal seal of endorsement on other web content or posts. 

Unlike Twitter which limits postings to 140 characters, Google+ allows up to 1000 words! While shorter often gets the point across more efficiently, there are times when a longer post will demonstrate more knowledge or be more helpful and interesting to the reader. And the more time people spend reading your post, the more they psychologically engage with you. Remember to include photos, graphics, videos and links within your post. Use your tagline and keywords in your profile. This is a "must" for anyone looking to network for business.   

Google recently announced the Events features which allows Google+ users to send out customized invitations to anyone regardless of whether or not they are Google+ users. It syncs with Google Calendar and shows up automatically when a user sends an event confirmation. In addition to sending out invitations to webinars, work functions, parties, etc., Google Events can also send out invitations for Google+ Hangouts. Google+ Hangouts is a platform for group video chatting and collaboration that is used by Google+ members, with a maximum participation allowance of 10 users. Hangouts can also be broadcasted live to public audience and automatically recorded to YouTube. 

Google Authorship is a "must have" feature of Google+ if you're trying to market your business. Think of Authorship as a way to make Google search results reflect not only your blog's actual text, but you, the author and marketer. Authorship links your name and byline on your blog to your Google+ personal profile. When this feature is enabled in your Google+ account, search results relevant to your blog posts will append your profile photo and name. 

I prefer using Google+ versus Facebook, but because so many of my friends are on Facebook instead of Google+, I'm not ready to give up my Facebook account. Here is my Google+ page. Next week, I'll cover LinkedIn. Stay tuned! 

Social Media: The Basics Part 2 (Facebook)

Facebook provides an opportunity for people to see who you really are as you interact with friends, family members and colleagues. This sets the stage for you to build stronger, more immediate relationships with them. Currently, Facebook is the undisputed leader of social media, but that could change over time. It was originally created as a tool to let college students share personal information about themselves. The emphasis remains on self-expression and personal interaction. Each member has a profile that includes:

• Cover photo
• About (contact number, email, birthday, location, activities, interests, etc.)
• Timeline (posts made by the user and by Facebook friends)

Facebook also gives you the ability to send messages, play online games, and use other applications. Facebook is used to:

• Communicate with friends and family members
• Share opinions
• Provide updates on friends and family members
• Share photos and videos
• Plan meetings and events
• Send birthday and holiday wishes
• Recommend restaurants, travel destinations
• Promote charitable causes and events

Here are some helpful Facebook tips.

Use Facebook lists to customize your audience. Lists allow you to organize your friends on Facebook so you can determine who gets to see the information you post or that is posted to your Facebook timeline. For example, I have four Facebook lists -- relatives, close friends, coworkers and acquaintances. 

Posting for the sake of posting can hurt your chances of being seen. Let's face it. Nobody really cares about what you had for breakfast unless you had something really unusual. Make sure your posts are tuned in to the psychology of your followers. Your posts should naturally prompt your followers to share your content. 

Try not to use the word "I" too much. Too many "I" statements can come across as egotistical. Keep the focus on your viewers rather than on yourself. The second you post something that is not engaging or relevant, EdgeRank will stop amplifying your posts and placing them in your friends' newsfeeds. What is EdgeRank? EdgeRank is Facebook's algorithm that personalizes users' newsfeeds and inserts posts it thinks will interest them. In other words, if users or their friends are interacting with you on a fairly frequent basis, you show up; if not, you get dropped. Facebook's EdgeRank algorithm rewards pages in the newsfeed based on the number of interactions a page receives. An interaction can be a summary of "Likes," posts, or comments about the page. 

To show up in as many users' top newsfeeds as possible, your content must be fresh, engaging, current and compelling. Visual content is critical to sharing and maintaining EdgeRank. On Facebook, people love sharing visual content, so make sure that you are leveraging something that is visually stimulating.

How do you increase interaction and sharing? To boost interaction, you need to post compelling content more often and try to engage people in a two-way dialogue. More than 70% of interactions occur during the first hour after a post is made. Keep your interactions up by posting more often and by being online and available right after you post. In other words, don't post and go to bed. A post posed as a "question" tends to drive more interaction than one written as a statement.  

It's important to never lose sight of the image you want to present so be careful about what you choose to post. People have lost job opportunities after employers viewed their social media content. As a general rule, if you think your content would make your parents feel uncomfortable, don't post it! 

Facebook plans to launch a new feature called Graph Search. Graph Search lets you search your Facebook social graph for people, places, photos and interests. With the new search engine, users will be able to ask specific questions, such as "which of my friends attended Indiana University?" I plan to use this new application to find out if any of my Facebook friends (or their friends) attended any of the colleges is interested in exploring. Graph Search is also integrated with Microsoft's Bing, meaning it will offer web search results if it can't find anything useful in your graph.

Social Media: The Basics Part 1

Last week, I attended a special lunch presentation on Social Media for Financial Advisors. It was presented by a speaker from Legg Mason Global Asset Management. Even if you're not a financial advisor, the tips I learned from the presentation may help you develop a better understanding of social media and how to use personally and professionally. 

There are three main ways that people use social networking sites: 

• Make connections (examples include Facebook and LinkedIn)
• Use and create content (an example are blogs such as this one)
• Seek or share opinions (examples include Facebook, Google+ and Twitter)

There are three types of social networks:

• Personal networks are primarily intended for socializing with friends and acquaintances, but do have business applications, particularly the promotion of products and services to potential buyers.
• Open networks are intended for general communications between any group of participants and do not skew toward any particular demographic.
• Professional networks are primarily intended to help businesspeople contact other businesspeople about jobs and industry trends, serving much the same function as online versions of industry associations and trade groups. 

Thanks to Facebook and LinkedIn, I have been able to reconnect with childhood friends (Facebook) and re-establish connections with former colleagues at work (LinkedIn). I enjoy using and creating content by blogging. Blogging also gives me the ability to provide more in-depth commentary about what's on my mind. I'm not limited to the 140-character limit on Twitter. Increasingly, I rely less on email and communicate far more frequently via Facebook by posting activity updates, and by sharing interesting articles I find on the Internet. Because of all the pages I belong to, often I find interesting articles on Facebook and Twitter, which I like to share with my friends and sometimes, the general public.  

One of the challenges of social media is setting boundaries between the professional and the personal. Another challenge is figuring out how "open" you want to be. For example, I use LinkedIn primarily for professional networking. Occasionally, I will post interesting articles in my LinkedIn page, but I screen each article to make sure it's more professional than personal. 

I regard Twitter more as an open network which is open to any and all users. This is where I retweet interesting articles I find  on a diverse range of topics -- social media, blogging, freelancing, finance, careers, behavioral economics, psychology, copywriting, neuroscience, and marketing. Anyone can subscribe to my Twitter lists and follow the same people I do.  

Facebook is my personal network. I use it primarily for socializing with friends and acquaintances. Since not all of my friends are on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter, I try to post interesting articles on each of these sites.  

I have a few friends who do not believe in the value of social media. I think they're missing the boat. Social media is immensely flexible and enables users to accomplish a wide range of useful tasks, such as:

• Promoting your skills and your business
• Reconnecting and staying in touch with people that might otherwise drop out of your life because of lack of time, changes in residence, etc.
• Expressing your personal views and values
• Gathering useful feedback from people with similar and dissimilar attitudes
• Enabling organizations to foster dialogue
• Disseminating discussion materials to encourage participants to exchange ideas
• Reaching out to people with similar values to raise awareness of charitable causes
• Highlighting news and ideas that could have a positive impact on your community and the world

Here are some of the myths vs. realities:

Myth: Social networking is only for young people. 

Reality: It's for adults of all ages. Although teenagers and young adults were the first to embrace social networking, it's now a mainstream activity for adults of all ages. 

Myth: Social networking is too time-consuming.

Reality: It's more efficient than traditional networking. For the most part, social networking sites are very easy to use. These sites also have very detailed "Help" sections and in some cases, tutorials to help you build your profile, search for contacts and set up groups, etc.  

Myth: Social networking isn't exclusive enough to be worthwhile. 

Reality: It's a good way to meet affluent prospects. Affluent and high-net-worth individuals are active in social networking sites. The search function within these sites make it possible to zero in on qualified prospects. In addition, most sites have privacy settings that allow you to control who can contact you.

Here are some of the leading social media sites:

Facebook

facebook.com

Connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them as well as faraway.

Twitter

twitter.com

Offers the ability to connect to friends, experts, celebrities and news outlets for timely updates and insights. 

LinkedIn

linkedin.com

The world's largest professional network designed exclusively for business use.

You Tube

youtube.com

This Web site offers the ability to discover, watch and share original videos.

Instagram

instagram.com

A photo-sharing site.

Foursquare

foursquare.com

Designed to help users find great places and make the most of your visits.

Pinterest

pinterest.com

Content sharing service that allows members to "pin" images, videos and other objects to their individual pinboard.

Google Plus

plus.google.com

Service that allows you to connect with friends, acquaintances, thought leaders and news outlets.

Flickr

flickr.com

Online photo management and sharing site.

Tumblr

Tumblr.com

Blogging site that allows users to post and share text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos.

Source: Understanding Social Media and Staying Safe Online, Legg Mason Global Asset Management

Did you know that many people now rely on social media rather than email for day-to-day communications? Because I work long hours as a Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley, I keep in touch with most of my friends through my personal blog and Facebook. One of the reasons why I love social media is because it's gives me the ability to easily exchange ideas, information and documents. For example, I posted some of the documents I created at previous jobs on my personal Web site at www.valeriealee.com. Thanks to Facebook and LinkedIn, I've reconnected with old friends and met new people who have enhanced my personal and professional life. 

Social media is my passion and I've done a lot of research in this area. Today, I'll provide some tips I learned about blogging. Next month, I'll cover Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. 

Blogs play a key role in educating people about your ideas and what matters to you. They can also be a powerful marketing asset if you stick to topics people find interesting and compelling. Make sure that your blog content is relevant to the audience you're trying to target. A blog is a great way to add a human touch and it encourages you to constantly update your content marketing mix. Ideally, you want to post updates at least once a week. Blogs increase your SEO (search engine optimization) by adding pages to your site and encouraging inbound links. If you provide the right kind of content, your blog can also give other sites a reason to link to you, increasing the number of inbound links and boosting your search engine rankings. 

Next week, I'll provide tips on using Facebook. Stay tuned! 

The Art of Connecting

Last week, I attended a two-hour presentation entitled "The Art of Connecting with Clients and Colleagues." The talk was presented by Tim Wilkinson, Head of Professional Development at ING Investment Management. The talk focused on helping financial advisors build trust and connect with their clients. At the beginning of his talk, Tim asked us to participate in the following exercise. I encourage you to try this exercise with some of your colleagues or friends:

1. Take out an 8 1/2" X 11" sheet of paper and fold it in half. Then close your eyes.
2. Tear the right corner.
3. Fold the paper in half.
4. Tear the left corner.
5. Tear the bottom corner.
6. Fold the paper in half.
7. Tear the bottom corner. 

Nobody is allowed to ask any questions during this exercise. It's important to have your eyes closed until after you complete Step 7. Ask everyone to unfold their sheets of paper and open their eyes. You will notice that even though everyone received the exact same instructions, everyone's sheet of paper will not look like anyone else's. The purpose of this exercise was to demonstrate how different perspectives result in different outcomes. 

Then Tim introduced us to the DISC methodology which I first learned about back in 2003. DISC is a behavioral model based on the work of William Moulton Marston, PhD that examines the behavior of individuals in their environment. Behavioral characteristics are grouped into four major "personality styles." All individuals exhibit characteristics of all four styles, but will tend to exhibit the characteristics of one particular style most often. These four styles are:

• Dominance: High "D" people are described as very active in dealing with problems and challenges. They tend to be forceful, driven, determined, ambitious and pioneering. 
• Influence: High "I" people are described as influential, convincing, magnetic, enthusiastic, persuasive, warm, demonstrative, trusting and optimistic. 
• Steadiness: High "S" people are described as calm, relaxed, patient, predictable, deliberate, stable and consistent.   
• Compliance: High "C" people are described as careful, cautious, neat, systematic, diplomatic, accurate and tactful.  

D people ask: "What are we going to do?" They trust competence. 

I people ask: "Who is part of the team?" They trust openness. 

S people ask: "How are we going to get this done?" They trust kindness. 

C people ask: "Why do we need to do this?" They trust expertise. 

In order to identify each of our own personal behavioral styles, Tim asked all of us to come up to the front of the room. The first question he asked us was, "Do you consider yourself more fast-paced and outspoken or more cautious and reflective?" People who consider themselves more fast-paced and outspoken stood at the front of the room while the more cautious and reflective people stood at the back of the room. The second question he asked us was, "Do you consider yourself more questioning and skeptical or accepting and warm?" People who consider themselves more questioning and skeptical stood on the left-hand side of the room while the accepting and warm people stood on the right-hand side of the room. Tim told us that if you consider yourself fast-paced, outspoken, questioning and skeptical, you are a D person. I people are fast-paced, outspoken, accepting and warm. S people are cautious, reflective, accepting and warm. C people are cautious, reflective, questioning and skeptical. 

When I took the DISC assessment in 2003, 2005 and 2012, I learned that I am primarily a S person, but I also have many C traits. When I read the description of Steadiness, I agreed it sounded a lot like me. I value relationships, sincerity and dependability. I tend to be cautious, careful, accommodating, soft-spoken and humble. In the work environment, I tend to perform in a consistent and predictable manner. I'm good at creating a stable, harmonious work environment.

At Morgan Stanley, I work on a team with six other financial advisors. Two of the financial advisors on our team were unable to attend the presentation, but I'm pretty sure that one of the senior financial advisors who was not at the presentation has an I behavioral style (I'll call him "I"). Among the people who attended the presentation, one person on our team has a dominant behavioral style (I'll call him "D"), another person displays the compliance behavioral style (I'll call her "C"), and two other financial advisors on my team have the steadiness behavioral style (I'll call them S1 and S2). Most people probably think that successful financial advisors have either the D (dominant) or I (influencing) behavioral style, but the truth is, you can become a successful financial advisor no matter what your behavioral style is. You don't even have to be an extrovert to be successful at sales. According to Daniel Pink, author of Drive and To Sell is Human, the most successful salespeople are not extroverts, but instead tend to be ambiverts. Source: http://www.danpink.com/2013/01/why-it-pays-to-be-an-ambivert-and-why-you-probably-are-one

What I enjoyed most about the presentation was learning more about my coworkers' behavioral styles. Now, I have a better understanding of what their priorities are as well as their pain points. For example, on our team, Financial Advisor "D" (Dominance) values results, action and competency. He detests wasted time, small talk, indecisiveness, and challenges to his authority. Financial Advisor "I" (Influencing) values enthusiasm, action and relationships. He dislikes dry or dull analysis, cold or detached people, negativity and pessimism. Financial Advisors "S1" and "S2" value sincerity, relationships and dependability. They are bothered by pushy people, sudden change and conflict. Financial Advisor "C" (Compliance) values quality, competency and dependability. She doesn't like emotional or illogical people, personal questions and pressure. 

According to a free online DISC assessment I found online, I am a blend between S (51%),  C (42%) and I (7%). When I took the test, I received the following description of my behavioral style: "You are tenacious and determined to follow a course of action - to achieve objectives. You are a clear thinker. You have an inner need to be objective and analytical. You like to pursue a definite course of action. You respond to logic rather than emotion. You are likely to be particularly good at handling challenging technical assignments." Even if you're not in sales, I think it's important to identify your behavioral style as well as the behavioral styles of the people you interact with on a regular basis. This includes your boss, your coworkers, your clients, your spouse or significant other, your children, your relatives and your friends. Learning more about yourself and the important people in your life will help you develop better connections with them. I believe that knowing how to form strong connections with others is one of the most worthwhile goals you can pursue in life. To learn more about your behavioral style, click on DISC assessment. 

Take Intelligent Risks

In my line of work as a Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley, risk management is just as important as establishing return objectives. Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha explain how we tend to associate risk "with things like losing money in the stock market or riding a motorcycle without a helmet" (do you know it's legal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet in Hawaii?). But risk encompasses every aspect of our lives. Risk has played a major role in my career as well as my personal life and even my son's life. 

As my son, Daniel, prepares to embark on his last year in high school, his college decision is fraught with risk. Daniel has a strong interest in graphic design, but he's struggling with the choice between attending a traditional four-year university or an art school. Obviously, attending a traditional four-year college will give him more options in case he decides not to major in graphic design, but the graphic design program at an art school will most likely offer more of the type of classes he's interested in taking.  

Daniel tends to be a good test taker and scored over 2100 on the SAT, including a perfect score of 800 on the Critical Reading section of the test. Unfortunately, his high school GPA is 3.40, which means he probably won't gain admission to any of the University of California schools. After many hours of exhaustive research, I created a list of five schools that might be a good fit for him:

1. Chapman University
2. University of the Pacific
3. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
4. California Polytechnic State University, Pomona
5. Chico State University

Daniel also wants to add Whitman College and Willamette University to my list. 

Daniel prefers to attend a small school. That is why Chapman University, University of the Pacific, Whitman College and Willamette University appeal to him. Unfortunately, these schools are very expensive with tuition in the $36,000 to $40,000 range. The other schools on his list are public schools so the tuition is reasonably affordable (in the $6,000 to $8,000 range), but they are fairly large schools with a student population ranging from 15,000 to 25,000 students. Choosing the right college will involve taking intelligent risks for Daniel. If he decides to attend a small private school, he will be burdened with a hefty student loan (unless he receives a generous scholarship). Will attending a pricy, private college pay off in terms of helping him land a job as a graphic designer when he graduates? If he attends a public university in California, will he feel "lost" in a large student environment? These are not easy questions to answer.

I'm glad Daniel is not graduating from college this year. I hope the job market for college graduates improves by 2018. My heart goes out to the 2013 class of college graduates. According to a study conducted by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, "about 48 percent of employed U.S. college graduates are in jobs that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggests requires less than a four-year college education. Eleven percent of employed college graduates are in occupations requiring more than a high-school diploma but less than a bachelor’s, and 37 percent are in occupations requiring no more than a high-school diploma." The competition for jobs is particularly fierce because there are so many highly-qualified applicants, but only a few good job opportunities. If you have talents in math or science, you can choose a more established route to success such as pursuing a career opportunity in one of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and medicine) professions. But if you didn't major in one of the STEM disciplines and are willing to intelligently take on risk, you may discover opportunities others miss.

In the visual summary of the book, The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career, Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha wrote, "Every possible career move contains risk. If you don't have to seriously think about the risk involved in a career opportunity, it's probably not the breakout opportunity you're looking for." Here are some of my favorite tips from Hoffman and Casnocha on how to think about the risks associated with opportunities:

• If you can tolerate the WORST-CASE OUTCOME, be open to it.
• If the worst-case outcome means death, homelessness, or being permanently unemployed, AVOID IT.
• DON'T CONFLATE UNCERTAINTY WITH RISK. There will always be unknowns. This doesn't mean it's risky. 
• You can never fully predict how or when ILL FORTUNE will strike. Instead of placing faith in your ability to anticipate all that could go wrong, BUILD UP RESILIENCE to unimaginable blowup. 
• Achieve stability by introducing low levels of volatility -- introduce SMALL RISKS ON A REGULAR BASIS.
• Those who REGULARLY DEAL WITH SMALL RISKS will never starve. They will never be ENGULFED BY THE BIG RISKS. 

My very first sales job was with Metropolitan Life in Aiea, Hawaii. Working in sales was a huge risk for me, but I knew that if I failed, I could always try something else. Fortunately, I did very well during my first year in the business. I was one of the top ten life insurance agents in the San Francisco Bay region, which included Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. 

When I decided to move from insurance to investments by working for Merrill Lynch, the worst-case outcome was not passing the six-hour Series 7 examination. Individuals who want to sell any type of securities must take the Series 7 examination (formally known as the General Securities Representative Examination). At most brokerage firms, individuals who wish to sell securities are given only one chance to pass the Series 7 exam. Failure to pass the exam results in immediate job termination. But since I had studied for two months prior to taking the exam, I was confident I would pass. If I didn't pass, I knew I could always  go back to selling insurance or try to take the exam again at a different brokerage firm. 

Hoffman and Casnocha's advice, "Achieve stability by introducing low levels of volatility -- introduce small risks on a regular basis" really resonated with me. Many of our clients at Morgan Stanley invest a portion of their assets in the iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Exchange Traded Fund (USMV). "Exchange traded funds (ETFs) that hold low-volatility stocks have a record of posting smaller swings than the broader market. These stocks also tend to have solid earning profiles and pay out substantial dividends. These types of funds aren't designed to beat indexes like the Standard and Poor's 500-stock index or the Dow, but instead limit price swings. But recently, both the PowerShares Standard and Poor's 500 Low Volatility ETF and the iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility ETF rose more than 9% versus a 7.1% increase in the blue chips." Source: Low-Volatility ETFs Draw Strong Flows Between DJIA Milestones

The concept of low or minimum volatility can also be applied to one's career as well as personal life. For example, if you're thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, before you quit your day job, try out your new career on a part-time basis at night and on the weekends. After you earn enough money from your part-time work to support yourself and your family, then you can quit your day-time job. 

Before you decide to marry someone, make sure you go away with him or her on an extended trip for at least a week or better yet, two weeks. The cohabitation question is tricky. Some of my friends lived with each other before they got married and they're still happily married, but I also have friends who lived with a significant other for a year or two and their relationship did not result in marriage. I think if you view cohabitation as an intentional step toward marriage, rather than as a test for marital compatibility, cohabitation could work. 

Another way to introduce small risks into your life is by taking classes outside of your field of study. Imagine how boring computer typography would be if Steve Jobs had not studied calligraphy class while he was at Reed College! 

As a Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley, I spend most of my day engaged in prospecting and sales activities, but I'm also interested in learning more about social media marketing. In order to augment my self-taught skills in this area, I plan to take the following social media classes through the Outreach College program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa this summer: 

• Introduction to Social Media
• Search Engine Optimization: Introduction to Search Marketing
• Introduction to Communication Skills via Social Media I
• Introduction to WordPress
• Advanced Search Engine Optimization
• Networking Your Business on Twitter
• Social Media Marketing: Developing an Effective Strategy
• Intermediate WordPress
• Practical WordPress: Beyond the Basics
• Writing for the Web

During my free time, I read articles online and books about social media.  

As you go about your day, try to find ways to introduce small risks into your life. If you fail, it won't be the end of the world and who knows? The small risk you choose to embrace today could lead to a major breakout opportunity tomorrow.