The Encouragement Tool You've Never Used

Welcome to the 317 new faces that've joined the newsletter since last week! If you haven't subscribed, join the 14,524 other brave folks that trust me with their inbox by clicking here. Today's topic is one of my favourites.

The Set-up:

?? Problem: We avoid speaking up on social media because we’ve seen bad things happen

?? Solution: Be someone who changes that and sparks joy or adds value to your community

?? Next play: Audit your posts, comments, and messages to ensure that you’re building towards optimism rather than passivity

Intro:

Sending thank-you cards and dropping off flowers still does wonders when trying to make someone's day in 2021. But, if you don't know them, it can be tough to pull this off... ??

When looking at building relationships in the digital age, I think one of the most untapped opportunities is actually using social media to encourage and celebrate the people around us we don't know as well as our close friends/family.

"You Are What You Listen To..."

?? First: Curate the voices you listen to on social. If it’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Tik Tok, Clubhouse, Reddit, be cautious of who you're tuned into and the values they stand for. ??

Do an audit to ensure those people you’re listening to (leaders, brands, and politicians) are building you up and stretching your perspective in a healthy way. Because what you’re consuming is what you’ll end up believing and sharing with others. If you don't like the cycle, change it. ??

How To Encourage Others Online

?? Second: Take a minute to spread some positivity and encourage others. It’s powerful, free, and takes little effort but can mean the world for someone else. ??

This is something I absolutely love about social media, especially LinkedIn: 

As long as you’re not selling something, reaching out with positivity or encouragement can ONLY do great things.

If the person you’re intending to encourage doesn't see it, you only waste a couple seconds of your time. But if they do see the kind gesture, it can do great things. 

Even if they don’t have time to respond, they can see that you’re trying to build optimism into the way that you build relationships, and that can speak measures to who you are before they even meet you. 

If I see a couple messages of good ideas or encouragement, it sticks out to me (as long as it’s not a copy/paste message ??), and it’s something that can cause a ripple effect.

The Ripple Effect

Just like paying for Starbucks ?? for the person in line behind you, that trickle down effect in social media is spreading positivity and being a force for good in our community. That is something that is rarely talked about.

Here’s a gut test for your message: whatever message you send someone, think to yourself:

if this person shows it to their company when I interview with them in 10 years, will it spark a good memory or a bad one?

If it doesn't sit right, I don’t send it! If I know it’ll spark a laugh/smile, I send off that DM right away ??

A Vancouver founder I always like following on the topic of optimism is the CEO of Kit and Ace, George Tsogas. He’s a great voice in the retail industry, and his thing is to share dad jokes. Why you ask? It’s in his DNA (he's a father of 2) and he loves sharing them just for the sake of it. It always reminds me that social media isn’t always about driving profits. It can just be about sharing optimism ??

Sometimes we get so looped into a business agenda that we forget that. When you have an intentional agenda of spreading positivity and good news, it can be crazy to see how much it impacts the community around you. 

So, give it a shot, and let me know what happens.

Random Outreach Story:

Last summer, I was reading a BC Business article about the hospitality industry of BC and came across an article by Darryl Brooker, President of Mission Hill Winery and Estate Group. 

It’d been a spot my wife and I had visited summers before the COVID lock down and so when I finished the article, I took a minute to reach out to send him a note. I told him we always enjoy our visits and that his team is fantastic at customer service.

To my surprise, not only did the President of the company see the note, but he responded within a minute of seeing my message. He was personable, thankful and it sparked a new relationship. I had nothing to sell, nothing to promote just a simple local Vancouverite saying hello. ????

It reminded me that no matter how busy people are, optimism is in high demand and low supply. And if we can be people that steward social media to build relationships in a genuine way, the world is so much better off.

Agreed? 

ACTION BYTES ??

 → Curate your feeds. Is what you’re consuming encouraging you towards kindness?

 → Filter your posts with a positivity lens. Are you making the world better by what you’re saying?

→ Look for those opportunities to give by sending creative videos or messages. Send an encouragement. Facilitate a meaningful introduction. Share an idea. Spread a spark of creativity. 

Be a voice for optimism in your industry. It will only facilitate amazing things to come. Don’t get lost if things don’t change in the next couple days or weeks, but lay a foundation of good relationships and ideas that can be a platform for the years to come.

You never know the impact it can have on your industry in the years ahead! ?????♂?

Riff of the Day!

I’ve been having a lot of fun on Clubhouse lately! If you’re on there, drop me a note (@joelh) and let’s connect for a future chat! (Send me a message if you need an invite - I've got one to give!) Take a read at this TechCrunch article that shares the crazy growth it’s been having.

Thanks for sticking with me until the end. If you have any ideas that sparked or want to spread some positivity, drop me a note here!

Stay outta’ trouble and catch you next week. 

??? Joel

P.S. Like the newsletter? Check out my LinkedIn course!