Never underestimate the power of positive thinking!  Your thoughts create energy field around you and the universe is compelled to create the situation or reality, which you create through your thought.  Here comes the power of positive thinking in.  Who likes to be sick, unhappy, and living in a state of poverty?  The answer is clear.  So, applying the power of positive thinking is crucial for your success and well being in life!!!

This is important to grasp.  The power of positive thinking decides what you will experience in your daily life. Your inner child might tell you the opposite as inner fears and negativity mostly call upon your attention. But these are experiences from the past, from your childhood for example. You are taught about what to do and not to do and negative feedback create pattern of negativity which are programmed in your subconscious mind, and play or better replay life circles and negative situations for you.

The power of positive thinking intends to break these pattern and try to make YOU, not your past, rule your life and destination.

Definitely we can state that the power of positive thinking is your key to success:

“Positive thinking brings inner peace, success, improved relationships, better health, happiness and satisfaction. It also helps the daily affairs of life move more smoothly, and makes life look bright and promising.

Positive thinking is contagious. People around you pick your mental moods and are affected accordingly. Think about happiness, good health and success, and you will cause people to like you and desire to help you, because they enjoy the vibrations that a positive mind emits.

In order to make positive thinking yield results, you need to develop a positive attitude toward life, expect a successful outcome of whatever you do, but also take any necessary actions to ensure your success.

Effective positive thinking that brings results is much more than just repeating a few positive words, or telling yourself that everything is going to be all right. It has to be your predominant mental attitude. It is not enough to think positively for a few moments, and then letting fears and lack of belief enter your mind. Some effort and inner work are necessary.

Are you willing to make a real inner change?
Are you willing to change the way you think?
Are you willing to develop a mental power that can positively affect you, your environment and the people around you?

Here are a few actions and tips to help you develop the power of positive thinking….”

Read all tips and the whole article here:

http://www.successconsciousness.com/index_00003a.htm

As a final note, the best attitude you should develop now, is to set the goal of creating a positive mind set in your life. The power of positive thinking and thoughts are proven and well documented.

Also the well-known and respected Mayo Clinic wrote an interesting article.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/positive-thinking/SR00009

I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or…I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or… I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes, it is,” Michael said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.”
I reflected on what Michael said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied. “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?”

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter, “ Michael replied. “Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or .I could choose to die. I chose to live.”
“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked. Michael continued, “…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read “he’s a dead man. I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Michael. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. “Yes, I replied.” The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, “Gravity.”
Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”
Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Improving your health is an important aspect of personal development. It is vital that you maintain motivation to eat well and exercise regularly. If your health is a priority, you have a better chance of feeling your best and therefore being a better contributor in other aspects of your life.

Try working in multiple positives. Do your best to keep a positive attitude while you work or work out. You’d be surprised at how much you can accomplish by either changing your surroundings or thinking about a task differently. Try working outside, or possibly thinking of your tasks as a game and try to win at them. Try listening to something that can increase your intelligence while you work out. You may find that meeting and talking with a spiritual or secular counselor a rewarding experience. These people have experience dealing with many of the issues you may be facing, and many are licensed to do so. They are there to simply hear what you have to say, and then give you guidance towards a better path. Talking to someone who knows how to listen and help will make you happier, and allow you to reach your goals.

Think of your personal development as a lifelong lifestyle change. You’ll never have the life you want if all you do is sit around in your armchair and dream about it. Take action with the goal of realizing your dreams. Unfortunately, stress is quite a killjoy to a person’s state of happiness and joy. When our mind is stressed, our body suffers. Take care of the stress you have in your mind by thinking clearly. Set a time each day to relax, to clear your mind, and be alone. You can increase how good you feel about yourself and how at peace you feel by using this time to relax. Use your work time efficiently. Something you can do is to increase the amount of short breaks you take throughout the workday. Although this seems counterproductive, taking regular breaks is good because it gives you the chance to recharge your mind, so when you resume work, you’ll be able to get more done.

Q: I recently became my own boss, joining forces with my brother, who has an established operation. I am very much enjoying this experience, but the challenges of finding ways to draw attention to our business and earn customers’ trust are extremely tough.

Drawing a distinction between a businessman (who usually has money as his goal) and an entrepreneur (whose goal is to create), if you had to choose one element, or perhaps strategy, that defined your success as an entrepreneur, what would it be? – Randall De Freitas, Trinidad & Tobago

A: Congratulations on your new venture. Working for yourself and your family can be a rewarding experience. It sounds like you and your brother have chosen the path to entrepreneurship rather than business as you work to create something that will make everyone in the company proud.

But setting up a new business is tough, and most fail within the first year — usually thanks to a poorly executed plan, a lack of public awareness or a shortage of money. At the beginning of my career, I always tried to address the first two problems by ensuring that we had a great product or service and that everyone knew about our businesses because of our great publicity and cheeky advertising.

I believed that if we addressed those two critical issues, it would be easier to tackle the third challenge: generating enough cash to keep the business going. On the whole this method worked, and as Virgin expanded, we set up new ventures when we felt we had a great business plan and could successfully challenge lazy market leaders in a sector that was ready for shaking up.

In assessing where Virgin has not got it right, a clear pattern emerges: Our businesses didn’t succeed when the Virgin difference was much harder for customers to grasp — when we launched products such as drinks, cosmetics and clothing. These Virgin businesses had limited marketing budgets compared to their well-established rivals and, because of the differentiation problem, found it difficult to create lasting awareness of and interest in their products.

By nature, I am not a numbers man, so I did not measure the success of a new venture by the amount of money we made. In Virgin Music’s early days, we wanted to create great places to listen to music and meet friends.

My sense was that if our staff liked our stores, there was a good chance our customers would too. At Virgin Records, we had a similar attitude. On principle, we would only take on bands and artists that we thought were fun to work with — which meant we signed acts like the Sex Pistols and The Rolling Stones. Then we would create a stir about them.

This brings me to a secret to lasting success: securing your customers’ trust, which should be part and parcel of your differentiation and marketing. At Virgin, we first did this somewhat accidentally, by relying on openness and simplicity when we communicated with our customers.

Since we’d created companies everyone on staff was proud of, we were all deeply concerned about quality and customer service, and our marketing focused on why the businesses were different and special.

Tying my name to the Virgin brand also helped to foster a sense of brand accountability. When I was preparing to launch Virgin Airlines, Sir Freddie Laker, the late veteran aviator, gave me a key bit of advice about the importance of getting noticed. He said that Virgin did not have the budget to compete with mainstream brands, but clever use of challenges — such as our attempts at setting world records for crossing the Atlantic and Pacific by boat and balloon, many of which were successful — and humorous stunts and ads would help to raise the airline’s profile.

The strategy worked. We often made the headlines while spending a fraction of what our rivals did on marketing. This also meant that we put a face to our brand early on. I also encouraged customers to e-mail me directly and advised our CEOs to do the same, which strengthened our ties with the customers.

Over time, this seems to have protected us from taking on many of the bad habits of large companies. Our emphasis on service, keeping a good sense of humor, and on making sure our employees “own” the businesses has helped us to build relationships with our customers. Over the years, we have won their trust, and their confidence gives us added impetus to give back in return.

Many of our advertising campaigns play off this open, frank communication. Our mobile phone companies offer straightforward bills with no hidden charges; our credit card agreements are easy to understand; our health club members are not locked into lengthy contracts.

In the current business environment, it may be tough not to focus solely on the numbers, but I believe this strategy of differentiating and marketing your product with a view to winning customers’ trust is the only way to build a sustainable, lasting business. If times get tough, do not lose heart.

You have already identified your key challenges, so just keep your message simple, direct, honest — and very public. If you do, you and your brother should go far.

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. Give up your need to always be right.There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels. Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

13. Give up the past. I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another,  attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves.  You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.

The Customer Experience Series is supported by Webtrends. Get insider tips and a step-by-step guide to acquiring, engaging and nurturing fans. Download the Playbook.

We all know social media is an important tool for brand awareness and customer acquisition — but how exactly are you supposed to convert random Twitter and Facebook users into real-life customers? Well, that depends.

Different brands have different challenges when it comes to customer acquisition: “If you’re our customer, you’ve signed up for a year-long service, unlike the Starbucks of the world, where you can be a customer by coming in for a cup of coffee one day,” says Lisa D’Aromando, social media community manager at Equinox. Whether you’re a clothing shop, a restaurant or a subscription service, you must tailor your strategy so that it makes sense for your brand. That said, there are a few universal ways to help your company attract new faces on the social web.

“I’m a big believer in creating and sharing meaningful content,” says Danni Snyder, co-founder and creative director at jewelry brand Dannijo. “Over time, that is every brand’s best bet for creating and sustaining a following that will grow their business.”

But what does it all entail? Mashable spoke with some super-social brands about how they find new customers and lock in their existing ones they have as repeat buyers.

1. Get Your Search On

There are 340 million tweets sent per day — odds are that a few of them are referencing your brand, though you may not realize it. “Just because chatter on social media channels isn’t mentioning your brand by handle or hashtag doesn’t mean it isn’t happening,” says McKee Floyd, director of brand development at Sweetgreen.

The key is to be proactive. For the company’s upcoming Sweetlife Festival, Floyd set up Twitter searches for “sweetlife” and “sweetlife festival” on TweetDeck, which pulls the tweets even if users didn’t include the hashtag. “As groups of friends have conversations back and forth on Twitter about whether or not they should buy tickets, we monitor and chime in with helpful info, answering logistical questions about the festival and hopefully swaying them towards choosing to attend.”

Geoff Alexander, managing partner at Chicago’s Wow Bao, says his team also uses TweetDeck to search for certain keywords — such as “wow bao,” “baomouth” and “hot Asian buns” — and they reply to any and all posts they find. Wow Bao initially got into social media because there wasn’t a budget for advertising, so the brand opted to spread the word by giving away buns. “@BaoMouth searches the Internet for ways to reward people — giving away bao, full meals or mobile money [for the food truck],” says Alexander.

But the search tactic works for more than just food concepts. Danni Snyder says she monitor mentions of Dannijo religiously and also searches Twitter for “jewelry.” Consuming social media buzz about jewelry — and not just Dannijo’s wares — helps the brand be “aware of what people are talking about, what they like and don’t like, etc.” says Snyder, which can help Dannijo cultivate a new audience with their next collection.

One tip for finding new customers is to see who’s engaging with your competitors — if someone just started following or tweeted at or checked in at another bakery in the neighborhood, you could tweet at the person to come check out your cupcakes. They customer will appreciate the shout-out and the fact that you handpicked them to be your customer. Get clever with searches that are relevant to your business and offerings to help you target potential customers — then reel them in by being charming and human, not salesy.

2. Use Images to Engage

A picture is worth a thousand words — photos drive twice as much engagement as text posts do on Facebook. So if you’re looking to attract some new fans, start snapping pics.

Snyder says Instagram is her favorite medium for connecting with fans. “You can subliminally market without annoying your customers because each post is capable of accomplishing a number of things,” she says. “In one post, we can showcase a new design available at Dannijo.com, thus driving traffic to our ecommerce site; show how we’d style the jewelry; mention a tastemaker friend like Questlove or ManRepeller and promote them while they’re wearing Dannijo; inspire discussion and engagement, gaining valuable customer feedback; and provide followers some visual inspiration and insight into your creative process.”

But the pics need not be product-focused. Dannijo posts photos of food and musicians that embody the Dannijo vibe, and its 9,745 followers like and comment on every one of them. Similarly, Rent the Runway posts pictures of various style trends. “On Facebook, we try to use as much imagery as possible — not just promotional imagery of our dresses, but images that relate to pop-culture,” says Jenny Fleiss, president and co-founder of Rent the Runway. For example, in anticipation of the upcoming Great Gatsby movie, the RTR blog posted about Gatsby-inspired fashion trends.

3. Host a Competition

Nothing gets customers going like some swag, so contests are a great way to boost your followers and engagement. But be strategic about what you’re offering, or else you could attract the wrong followers.

ModCloth hosts monthly photo contests that garner hundreds of entries and thousands of votes. “Our most recent contest, Thrifted Treasures, asked our fans to share their favorite vintage finds, and our community could vote up their favorites,” explains Natasha Khan, ModCloth’s social media manager. “The social actions surrounding that event brought in thousands of new fans, which we otherwise would not have gained.”

Khan says contests and offers have been the most high impact customer generation events for ModCloth. But if you’re planning on hosting a contest, Khan has a few suggestions. First, build in actions that allow the fan to share to their social networks, as this will increase virality. Second, stay true to your brand. Third, tweak the contest to fit the platform on which you’re running it — “On Facebook that means sharing photography, on Twitter it means wordplay hashtags, and for Polyvore it means styling outfits,” says Khan.

“Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to Facebook fan growth. If your company product is clothing and your prize is free iPads, then you will gain followers that might not belong to your core demographic. Make sure the reward is something your customer will value, such as a gift card or grab bag of your products,” says Khan.

4. Spice Up The Platforms

With so many platforms to manage, be sure to have a distinct M.O. on each channel — and cross-pollinate sparingly. If a customer sees the same information and pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest, she need only follow you on one of these platforms. Also, be wary of overpromotion. Nothing is more of a turnoff than a constant sales messaging — people easily can unfollow, and they will. Interestingly, many of Wow Bao’s posts have nothing to do with bao — @BaoMouth tweets during award shows and keeps a lively conversation going on a number of topics, winning people over with its spunky personality.

Of course, a big reason why you use various social media channels is to promote your product, so there are some things to keep in mind for the messaging when you are pushing your goods.

“Prove the value of being a Facebook fan. If you can find the same content and offers on other channels, there is no incentive to also follow the brand on Facebook,” Khan says. “Exclusive Facebook-only offers and original content reinforces our investment in the channel.” The same goes for every other social platform.

For Equinox, Facebook is for broadcasting of events and initiatives, like Cycle For Survival, Twitter is more conversation and geared toward responding to questions about membership, fitness routines and healthy eating, and Foursquare is the platform on which to find offers for Equinox’s spa and shop, which are open to the public. “Every Monday in March, we posted a different Foursquare check-in special for The Shop at all of our locations,” says D’Aromando. “Since you don’t have to necessarily be a member to go to The Shop or The Spa, these specials are accessible to everyone,” and can lure in potential customers into becoming Equinox members.

The company’s Q blog is another digital project where you’ll find awe-inspiring videos and original lifestyle content — a great way to add value for potential customers. “Q was launched to extend our brand and increase this word-of-mouth among our target audience. It gives people — members and nonmembers — topics and material from our Equinox experts to share with others,” says D’Aromando. “In lieu of promos, we create a different sort of currency: highly produced, branded content on Q with exclusives for our social media communities.”

5. Make It Personal

No one like a mass message — consumers like to feel as if they’re the only ones being spoken to. You should know your customers and speak to them in personal ways to establish touchpoints that build relationships and create loyalty.

“I like to make it very personable — if someone tweets a question I make sure to answer immediately,” says Steven Rojas, social media director at GrandLife Hotels. “Often I go as far as Googling that person to make sure I know as much as I can about them before reaching out. I want to humanize the brand so people don’t feel like they are speaking to a computer but to an actual person who cares about what they are saying. My obsession for all things digital never sleeps, so I make sure everyone gets what they need, when they need it.”

Live chats are another effective way to offer intimate interaction and engagement with fans. “It’s about having a conversation with your community, so we often do live chats with our stylists on Facebook to answer any styling questions customers may have,” says Fleiss. “These posts tend to elicit the most ‘Likes’ and comments.”

While you’re browsing sites for comments to respond to, don’t ignore negative feedback — addressing the complaint is an opportunity to convert an unhappy customer into an impressed brand ambassador.

“We’re very appreciative when someone takes the time to let us know about a bad experience or an issue because then we can help fix it,” says Jenny Danzi, a Mountain Dew brand manager. “Reply to every complaint to turn those consumers into advocates — even if you can not offer an instant fix, people appreciate getting a human response,” she adds. And don’t forget that even the littlest gesture can make a big difference. “Sometimes for us it can be as simple as letting consumers know where they can find our products,” says Danzi.

Wow Bao takes it to the next level, proactively finding ways to create touchpoints with consumers. “We comment on any and all posts mentioning people’s birthdays and pop culture,” says Alexander. “We even schedule posts for people’s birthdays, when people post something like, ‘My birthday is in 12 days’” — a very personalized tactic that can go a long way.

6. Let Your Customers Shine

Nothing makes a customer feel better than being acknowledged — or better yet, honored — by their favorite brand. Is there a way to offer kudos to your loyal fans? If so, make it happen.

Because women love to talk about what they’re wearing — and often wear RTR to social events such as weddings and cocktail parties — Rent the Runway strives to move these conversations online. “We have weekly style award contests on our blog and Facebook Page, and a section of our site called RTR Moments where women can share photos of themselves in RTR dresses,” says Fleiss.

For Mountain Dew, whose fan base is extremely young and active on social media, the “Diet Mountain Dew Supernova Spotter” is a great way to celebrate the return of the fan-chosen flavor in addition to highlighting the passion of the fans. “Dew drinkers can upload their photo of Diet Supernova, and on Friday we’ll open the entries up to public voting. Fifteen winners will each get a Diet Dew hoodie, and everyone who enters can easily share their Diet Supernova passion with friends,” Danzi says.

For Equinox, whose social media fan base is largely comprised of members, the goal isn’t as much to incentivize people to join (they already have), but to make them feel special for being members. “We have a Facebook app where members can refer friends directly, and if the friend joins, the member gets a referral bonus,” says D’Aromando. “We also just launched a program on Twitter where we’re rewarding our advocates by offering them private group fitness classes for them and their friends. This gives us a way to say ‘thanks’ to those who always post about us, and it gives them something to talk about with their friends — online and off.”

Brands, how does your company acquire new customers on social media? Consumers, what makes you want to become a customer? Let us know in the comments.

We all know that it’s not the number of social media fans you have, but the relationship you have with them that is important. While we need to hit a critical mass of fans to justify a large marketing expenditure on social media, the research shows that the benefits of an active fan base are clear. Chadwick Martin Bailey found that Facebook fans, at 51 percent, and Twitter followers, at 67 percent, are more likely to purchase from a brand after following it on social media. While simply clicking a follow or “like” button might be the first step in this process, the true conversion happens when a fan engages with the brand. This means that the second step in the process must be a brand providing a unique outlet for dialogue, expression, and problem solving through its social media presences. Without a clear understanding of what engagement truly is, it’s easy to be content with something much less, such as simply growing your number of fans. However, being content with those numbers means that your strategy of engaging your customers may not be achieving your goals.

For example, in almost every grocery store I’ve been in, even in foreign countries where I was challenged to speak a few words in the native language, I’ve had a conversation with the person at the register. It might have been as simple as an acknowledgement that I found everything I was looking for, or it may have involved the weather, how early in the morning it was, or other various pleasantries. However, very seldom could I say that either party was truly engaged or invested in the conversation at hand. That’s not to say that I’m not spellbinding in my assessment of incoming storm fronts, but, at any point, another cashier or customer could have interrupted with a more pressing matter, and neither I nor the cashier would have lost much sleep wondering how our conversation would have ended. Additionally, none of these conversations contributed positively or negatively towards my feelings about the grocery store brand. They have been all but forgotten.

A lot of what slips under the banner of “engagement” is closer to my grocery checkout conversations than the type of brand/customer dialogue that is the promised value proposition of social media or social customer relationship management. Add to this the fact that our monitoring tools are getting better every day, but still are not sophisticated enough to solve this dilemma. To address this issue in a meaningful way, we need to more fully understand the definition of the goal.

So what is engagement? While it can look different depending on who is doing it, there are several characteristics to look for including:

Engagement relates to me on a personal level.
Instead of a simple “hello” at the checkout line, I need something more to be engaged. At one of the coffee shops near my office, I have become somewhat of a regular. Thus, when I walk in the door, many times someone will greet me by name. It’s not quite the greeting Norm from “Cheers” received every time he walked into the bar, but it has a similar effect. It’s clear that I’m valued and remembered at this particular coffee shop, and that is engaging.

Engagement gets my full attention.
To continue my grocery store comparison, I can have a conversation about the weather while thinking about what item I may have forgotten before getting in the checkout line. Getting my full attention would mean allowing me to focus on how the brand is helping me achieve my goals.

Engagement makes me want to come back for more.
What is it about a conversation that is unique and makes me believe that I won’t get the same quality of response somewhere else? Or, maybe it is just the level of customer service that is given. Having someone attempt to truly understand your needs and then work to solve your problem is a powerful thing. I recently went to a newly opened Mexican restaurant near my home and ordered for a vegetarian friend and myself. I made an obvious mistake in ordering, and when I got the food, realized that the other person’s food was not vegetarian after all. I briefly explained what happened, and the owner instantly made it right. Not only did he quickly get me the vegetarian equivalent for my

friend, but he also gave me another free dish. He knew that he probably had one chance to convert me into a loyal customer, and, sure enough, he did with one simple gesture. Engagement is realizing that there is rarely a second chance to make a true connection with a customer, and then doing something memorable about it.

Engagement makes me want to share my thoughts and feelings with others.
What is so memorable or brilliant that I have to tell someone else about it? Sometimes a product itself is so memorable that it makes people want to talk about it. Esurance and Tempur-Pedic have built advertising campaigns around this idea, daring prospective customers to use Google to discover what others are saying about their products. I think this is a brilliant strategy, and it’s built around a platform of engaging with customers to the point that they can’t contain their enthusiasm about a brand.

So what do we do from here? Blaming monitoring tools or resources will go about as well as blaming ever does. It will cover you in the short term, but probably won’t solve many (if any) long-term issues.

The good news is that there is something you can do now to create more engagement among your audiences, and it’s pretty simple: put better content out there. It doesn’t mean that every post or response you give needs to be different, but it means that you need to be thoughtful about the way you initiate engagement with your followers. Follow these rules:

Talk in a personal way that makes your message something people can relate to.
We call this a brand’s “voice” on its social media channel, and it’s a powerful thing. People can get the news anywhere, but they want to see that there is a person behind the computer on the other side.

Don’t be tempted into substituting cleverness for a genuine statement. 
Don’t get me wrong, clever advertising works. But on social media, we’re not doing traditional advertising. You can be funny or serious, but you always need to be genuine and true to your followers. You can draw people in with a statement, but be ready to converse with them in a meaningful way when you’ve piqued their interest.

Don’t fish for compliments.
An extreme example of how this can go wrong is one of the many recent cases of hashtag hijacking. This is when a well-meaning agency decides to create a hashtag that will allow the brand’s fans to pay compliments to it. Instead, those who are not so friendly to the brand hijack the hashtag and post negative comments with it. What went wrong? The brand was asking for people to compliment it, but instead it became susceptible to unexpected negative feedback.

By creating a program of engagement with your fans and followers, you will begin to see a shift in behavior, a growth of your influence, and measurable results like more inquiries, sales, and repeat customers. Here are some telltale signs that your actions have engaged your fans:

Did it influence action?
The obvious benefit of engagement would be a direct conversion; whether that is a sale, a registration, a donation, or anything that can be directly measured. Less obvious actions could be to visit a link and tell someone else about it by sharing either online or offline, or to make a new consideration when purchasing.

Did it change an opinion?
We can’t always expect a social media post or series of posts to turn into a sale. Sometimes we have to convince skeptics first that they should take a new look at an old problem (or brand).

Did it solve a problem?
Customer service on social media is a great thing because it helps your entire audience solve problems. Engaging in social customer service provides value because it empowers your fans to talk with each other and share their experiences. Be the catalyst for that to happen by creating an atmosphere of community problem-solving.

Engagement takes a little more thoughtfulness in its approach, but the long-term benefits are clear: You won’t just have fans and followers, but brand advocates. Brand advocates will see and appreciate the value of your communications enough to share your messages with their own network of friends and followers. When you approach your social media communication through this lens of fostering long-term, true engagement, you will see that it doesn’t necessarily take a major shift in what you are already doing, but it does mean that your conversations take on a purpose beyond just discussing the weather.

by Joe Wilner

The idea of positive thinking has been thrown around for many decades as the source of wealth, health, and happiness.

From Norman Vincent Peale’s classic book The Power of Positive Thinking, to Al Fraken’s satiric self-help characterStuart Smally on Saturday Night Live, reminding us to affirm that, “I’m good enough, smart enough, and doggone it people like me.”

Frankly, positive thinking has become such a popularized and commercial notion that many people find it to be cliché and exaggerated.

Can we really be happier by just thinking positively? Can life actually improve by simply changing how we think about things?

I certainly believe that positive thinking can help us feel better. Our thoughts and feelings are intricately related and the way we interpret situations and events, which have been shown to impact the emotions and behavior that follow.

So, what does positive thinking involve?

Is just about using positive affirmations and idle statements?

When it comes to our well-being, there are three cognitive components that make-up positive thinking, which includes life-satisfaction, self-esteem, and optimism.

Three areas that are make-up positive thinking

Life-satisfaction – How would you rate the conditions of your life? Are you living close to your ideal when it comes to relationships, work, and leisure?

Life-satisfaction can be enhanced by working toward a balanced life, and setting small goals in different life domains. Give yourself a grade when it comes to your physical, social, mental, and spiritual health. What’s not working, and what could you do to make improvements?

Self-esteem – This is your feelings or attitude about your value as a person. Are you able to recognize your good qualities? Do you feel worthy and on an equal plane with others?

To enhance your self-esteem make a list of past accomplishments and the positive qualities that you and others recognize about you.

 Optimism - The optimist looks on the bright side of things and responds in a more positive way to life events and changes. Below are the three P’s included in the optimistic triad.

If you’re an optimist your interpretation and beliefs about good and bad events is as follows.

Permanent: bad doesn’t last, good does.

Pervasive: good affects everything; bad is localized and doesn’t affect other parts of life.

Personal: Good=my fault; bad=random

So, considering these three areas, what thoughts and interpretations do you make about your overall life, self-worth, and your future?

When we change our thinking it is likely to impact our affect and emotional state.

Having more frequent positive affect and less frequent negative affect leads to greater well-being. As well, the intensity of these emotional experiences is important, where well-being relates to how intense our positive and negative emotions are.

When we are satisfied with life and have a positive attitude about ourselves and the future we are likely to experience more positive and pleasurable moments which can help enhance our well-being.

One of the major challenges for new businesses is business building. As your business grows you are constantly dealing with and building relationships with new customers. In surveys I’ve seen, the biggest reason customers cite as the reason they shop where they do is because they felt a “trust and confidence” in that business. In this article I’ll show you six ways to build customer trust before that customer actually makes their first contact with you.

1. Stop being a cold impersonal business and start being a warm, personable business. Building the company name is one thing but bringing an actual personality to a business is another. All your ads should speak to one person not the huddled masses. Use less “I” and “we” and more “you” and “yours.” When you write your ad copy think of one customer you know and like; and talk to them as though you were face to face.

2. Be truthful. By that I mean, don’t tell just part of the truth in your ads. Nothing will upset a customer more than to see an ad for a product costing $49.95 only to discover, after the “fine print”, its $149.95. If there are additional enhancements that will make the product a better value then present them with the benefits that will display that value.

3. Some people say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s one thing to be equal to or better than your competitor but it’s an entirely different matter to sound like them in your advertising. When you say, “Best service in town” that’s just lip service. Best compared to what and who? Defined by what? We have a furniture dealer that uses, “Low prices are born here and raised elsewhere.” Sounds like a bumper sticker phrase. Cutesy but hardly builds trust and confidence in the business. If you are going to talk about your business in slogan terms be clear in what you say. “The number one seller of XYZ snowmobiles in the tri-state area” and cite the documentation for saying that.

4. Spell out your guarantee. Build your reputation for standing behind what you do even when it sometimes costs you. You are probably familiar with Nordstrom’s – the Seattle based clothing chain. They are famous for their customer service. There is the story of a woman trying to return a set of tires she was convinced she purchased at Nordstrom’s. Despite the fact that Nordstrom’s doesn’t sell tires, and never has, they took back the tires and cheerfully refunded the woman’s money. Your word is your bond. Guarantee your work and stand behind it even if it hurts.

5. Make it easy for customers to complain. Provide phone numbers, feedback email access and any other ways you can think of for customers to notify you when there is a problem. The longer it takes to resolve a problem the more potential customers will hear about this particular customers dissatisfaction with your company.

6. Build on your successes. Actively solicit testimonials from satisfied customers and display them where customers can easily see them. A car dealer here has testimonials inside plastic sheets in a nice binder in the customer waiting area. While customers are waiting to pick up their vehicle they are put at ease by the positive statements that other customers have made about the dealership. A car detailer I work with in Maryland takes a digital picture of each vehicle and e-mails it to the client. Ninety-nine percent of the time he receives an acknowledgement that turns into a testimonial.

The company name is important but putting a personal feeling on the business is never a bad idea. Fortune 100 companies spend billions on image that is geared to creating trust and confidence in each company’s brand name and products. Should you do less?

Positiveness is very much important factor to start a new day with new hope and new resolution. So the good start of the day can make the job half done at the beginning. Weplan for our day after waking up at the morning. So the start can be good if we have some healthy and tasty coffee like BoreshaBskinny Latte candy or Coffee, Skinny Coffee etc. Positiveness will definitely improve your self- esteem and the whole day will be very good to carry on your job.

To start a new day we should follow some helpful way. The last night sleep should be adequate. Six-eight hours sleep revives your mind and body for the next day. Lack of sleep results short temper, mental stress and many other stressful facts. Morning beverages like coffee or tea is very good option. You should opt for the healthy and herbal coffee or tea keeping your health in your mind. If you want to control your calorie level Skinny Coffee, Skinny tea, Bskinny Coffee or tea etc. are full of health utilities. Any type of junk foods, highly processed foods should be eliminated from your food habits. The burgers, pizzas, crispy and salty chickens of the branded and multinational companies offer minimum food values but bestow you every type of health hazards. Try to consume minimum high calorie or junk foods. It is better, carry homemade foods. Your lunch should be full of carbohydrates and proteins in balanced way. To get this adequately the three-four time meal is enough. At the time gap of on your job schedule take some light snacks with coffee or tea at the evening. Bskinny Latte Coffee and candy is well known for providing natural energy for everybody. Coffee is such a beverage which people drink not only for its taste but also for its advantages. Tea and coffee are such beverages, which boost up the energy level of human beings when they drink these beverages. When one feel very tired after doing a huge work if he takes these beverages his power is again regenerated and he can join his work again. But coffee is also a fat enriching beverage. If you are having coffee like Bskinny Coffee by Boresha, you will not have this type of problem.

So it is not the end, both physical and mental fitness are very much necessary to lead a healthy and prosperous life. Balanced meal, tea or coffee and good night sleep can provide right balance for your health. To build up strongly you need proper exercise and must be tension less as much as possible. It has been mentioned already at the inception that positiveness in your attitude plays very much significant roll to be mentally strong. If you lack it you will suffer from lack of confidence and will not get mood in the morning or all over day to do any new job. Depression may arise at any time but it should be overcome as soon as possible. Social mingle is necessary in life to have good health. And you must laugh. If you have friends call them have coffee party and do gossip. It will really keep you healthy. You can also have productive work or hobby to spend your leisure time. The productivity of your work is really helpful to keep positive approach in your life. Then maintain a routine you will definitely have good and effective result.