Archive for June, 2010
Social Media Marketing and Your Brand Building Efforts
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When looking at your big picture, consider not only how it serves your customers but also be engaged with what they are saying about your brand, especially in social media. Long gone are the days where you could just put up a static website and service your customers. Let’s look at some key areas that will help you in building your brand and using social media marketing. The best thing about using social media marketing to build your brand is that it will keep you on top of mind with your customers.
- Starting with your website, this is a place you can begin to establish value and assist your clients in seeing how they can relate to your brand since it’s a part of their story as well.
- Building relationships along the way with others using social media will tap you into what people care about, what they are looking for, and you’re sure to connect with likeminded leaders that you can collaborate with and develop some really cool stuff to deliver even further value to your clients.
- When you’re creating content for your brand, such as blogging, participating in guest blogging, webinars and sharing valuable content, you’re allowing people to connect to you as a person. You are the brand in the 21st Century. Most important is the interaction or the discussion around the content you create.
- Hosting events - these can be online or offline and they are one of the hottest ways to build awareness. Social media can and absolutely should be used to drive awareness.
- Your social media blueprint must be in place and should include things such as monitoring Twitter, Facebook, blogs, discussion forums and other communities with your focus being on learning, engaging and forming relationships.
The most important thing to focus on in your social media marketing is having fun by doing what you love to do every day. People are looking to feel your brand . Get into the mode of making your top priority to make your brand a part of their daily habits and then you’ll be sure to create a buzz on and offline.
Sharon Ann Irwin
Power Foods To Protect Your Heart, Brain & Joints
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I like to take the time out to write about health and wellness on my blog since it is the foundation for success in life and business. Without our health and strength, we are like a rocket that has no fuel. Let’s take a look at some natural ways to feel our best. There’s been lots of research on the topic of everyday food being able to help with reaching just about any health goal. Let’s take a look specifically at what you can eat to protect your heart, brain, and joints.
Protect Your Heart with-
Barley-this can lower your cholesterol since Barley contains beta-glucan, which is a type of soluble fiber that binds with cholesterol to whisk it out of the body.
Pinto Beans- Like barley, pinto beans have the beta-glucan in their corner as well.
Grapes- If you eat 1 1/4 cups of grapes they can help to prevent the damaging effects of a high fat meal. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH say a daily dose of grapes improves blood vessel health in general. Scientists say it may be the high levels of antioxidants called polyphenols in grapes that do the trick.
Macadamia nuts- These nuts have been found by researchers to increase the amounts of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) in the blood. In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition it was found that when men with high cholesterol ate between 1-3 ozs. of macadamia nuts per day for 30 days, their LDL dripped by 5.3% while their HDL rose by 7.9%.
Mineral water- The magnesium and calcium that is found in most mineral waters (such as San Pellegrino) has the potential to reduce blood pressure. In a Swedish study, men and women with borderline hypertension experienced a significant decrease in blood pressure after one month.
For your heart, be sure to steer clear of Energy Drinks. The caffeine and guarana that often gets added to these drinks can make your blood pressure go off the charts.
Boost your memory with-
Apples-by eating two or three apples a day you’re increasing your levels of acetycholine, which is a neurotransmitter important to memory that tends to decrease with age.
Chicken Breast- Healthy aging and the CDC did a study of more than 6,000 people who ate foods high in niacin, like chicken breast, and found that this group had a 70% lower risk of mental decline and Alzheimer’s.
Coffee- Those who drink three to five cups of filtered coffee a day reduced their risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s by 65%, according to a Swedish study of more than 1,400 people over a 20 year span.
Avoid Liver- the high content of copper found in liver is associated with faster pace of cognitive decline.
Take the pain out of your joints with-
Olive Oil- Just two teaspoons of olive oil and three grams of fish oil a day may give you significantly less morning stiffness, joint pain, and fatigue - this is according to a Brazilian study.
Oranges- The Vitamin C engages a gene that helps your cartilage. People who eat the most of it have 70% less cartilage loss than those who don’t.
Avoid Beer and Hard Liquor- Especially if you’re prone to gout. One daily beer can boost your uric acid levels by 15% and high levels can cause gout. Hard liquor raises it by 12% according to a Harvard Medical study of more than 14,000 people.
Have a healthy week and I’ll catch you really soon with more health tips to keep your body running strong!
Sharon Ann Irwin
Preview of The Book Being In Balance by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
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Today’s post is all about Dr. Wayne W. Dyer’s book “Being In Balance.” In this book, he covers the nine principles for creating habits to match your desires. Let’s take a peek at what the nine principles are, and if you’re resonating with the sneak peek you can go out and get the book as a gift for yourself.
Principle # 1 is how to balance your dreams wtih your habits. “The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird sleeps in the egg; and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities….” – James Allen
Principle # 2 Dr. Dyer shares that there is more to life than making it go faster. He writes about ways to balance your desires in order to enjoy life with your need to achieve. This one hits home with me as a former workaholic. “One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important…” – Bertrand Russell
Principle # 3 Focuses on balancing how you see yourself with what you project to the world. “I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That is character!” – Theodore Roosevelt
Principle #4 Dr. Dyer reveals why your addictions tell you that you’ll never get enough of what you don’t want. The teaching of how to balance your desire for what you want with your addictive behavior.
Principle # 5 Dr. Dyer journies into the emotions and feeling here with “You’re not what you eat; you’re what you believe about what you eat.” “Do not neglect this body. This is the house of God; take care of it, only in this body can God be realized.” – Nisargadatta Maharaj Imagine yourself balancing your desire to have your body feel great with what you feed it and how you exercise it.
Principle # 6 There is no way to discover light by analyzing the darkeness. Dr. Dyer shares how to balance your desire for prosperity with your habits of scarcity. “Every man is free to rise as far as he’s able or willing, but it’s only the degree to which he thinks that determines the degree to which he’ll rise.” – Ayn Rand
Principle # 7 When you fight any adversity, you’re only increasing the power it holds over you. In this principle, Dr. Dyer takes a look at how to balance your desire to live in a peaceful world with messages of evil continually bombarding you. “To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness.” -Confucius
Principle # 8 The title of this chapter is “Love is what’s left over when falling in love fades away”. Dr. Dyer covers how to balance your desire for love with feelings of not having enough love. “Those that go searching for love only make manifest their own lovelessness, and the loveless never find love, only the loving find love, and they never have to seek for it.” – D.H. Lawrence
Principle # 9 Our Earth is crammed with heaven…so the saying “Heaven on earth” comes to my mind. Dr. Dyer shares how to balance your spiritual life with your material life. “Life in the world and life in the spirit are not incompatible.” – The Upanishads
In summary, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer in his book “Being In Balance” takes you on a wonderful journey where you see and feel your unique creative process. You’re able to get in tune with what is at your core and start to take actions to adjust any out-of-balance thoughts that may come up along the way. It’s about re-alignment of your thoughts so you can restore balance and manifest your highest desires. If you like what you’ve read today, you deserve to have a copy on your bookshelf. Now that I’ve taken it off my shelf, I’ll re-read it over the course of this week.
Cheers to your success in creating habits that match your desires!
Sharon Ann Irwin
P.S. If you’re seeking more balance in your business and life, I’d love to connect and be a part of your growth. If you’re serious about getting to a place where you love what you’re doing every day and you have true life business balance, then feel free to complete my free business assesment application.
