Improve your communication skills both In Real Live and on Social. | Tim and Julie Harris help you to create your plan, using key skills... * TED Talks is full of great talks on communication. Some of our favorites: “The Art of Paying Attention” by Wendy MacNaughton “10 Ways to have a better conversation” by Celeste Headlee * Consider joining ToastMasters so you can improve your speaking skills live. * Join multiple networking groups to hone your skills and expand your Social Media reach to those groups.  Support fellow members. Conclusion:   * Communication is your #1 skill online and off.  Remember it’s impossible to ‘over communicate’.   * The WAY you communicate matters.  How frequently and authentically you speak in person and online does matter. * Hierarchy of communication still is the following: * In Person (now augmented by Zoom, thanks to Covid) * By phone * Text…followed by phone call * Social Media Don’t convince yourself that social media is a lead generation spoke.  It’s for supporting your pro-active lead generation, nurturing your relationships and expanding your reach. Part 2:  YOUR WRITINGA) How well you write effects all forms of social media.   “The best social media managers are excellent copywriters and sparkling digital conversationalists who not only embody, but enhance their brand’s presence. From attention-grabbing ad copy to witty social banter, you should know how to write concise copy that elicits emotion from your audience.” -Sprout Social This is where agents and brokers start to consider hiring a social media manager because this IS something that requires work, skill and polishing to be good at it. It’s not a requirement, however.  There are some easy ways to improve your own writing, but like all worthwhile things, it takes work and consistent practice. * grammarly.com is a good ‘writing assistant’ to help you clean up your basic skills. * https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl Grammar Girl shows you what’s correct and why so you can stop making the same mistakes. * writerscollegeblog.com * MasterClass.com search the writing section.  Famous and celebrated authors teach their craft. * Read more! Read a variety of writing; not just headlines and real estate articles, but other forms to improve your sentence structure, flow, spelling and punctuation.  Ultimately, the sites we mentioned will clean up your writing, but they don’t fix issues like content and flow.   * Even after working on your writing, there’s still an art to the social media post.  Here are some specifics from Social Media Today: Making your content and posts easy to read by writing at about an 8th grade reading level Using headings, bullets and lists where possible to make your content or posts easier to scan Keeping paragraphs to only two or three sentences Being as succinct as possible when writing on your topic Telling a story using pictures and video whenever possible Schedule A Free Coaching Call Listen on iTunes Listen on Spotify Listen on Stitcher