I was (and still am) a HUGE Stephen King fan.

Like him or not he has done an awful lot for pop culture and the sheer volume of work the man has put out is staggering.

So in todays newsletter I am going to slap some Stephen King tropes over what it means to be digitally dominant and socially aware as a modern company.

So get ready to go down the master of horrors rabbit hole!

1. The Main Character Is A Writer - Ironic since I’m sat here writing this for you right now 😉

Writing content doesn't have to be hard (or scary).

But the power of Linkedin Newsletters and Articles cannot be ignored. Writing articles will do wonders for you and our audience. Articles become part of the structure and fabric of your profile. So the more you write, the stronger your profile gets. It will also help boost your Linkedin SSI (social selling index) which you can check out here and specifically the engage with insights bit.

If you keyword optimise these as well they will do a WHOLE lot more than your teeny tiny company blog in terms of SEO (pro tip, no social media platform likes you driving traffic away from it to somewhere else, so why not keep in on the platform and collect all that lovely Goggle juice instead). Now imagine doing this as a team?

But I’m scared to publish anything. We all are. That’s okay. Change is always scary and putting stuff out there is also scary but in reality the worst thing that happens is…nothing happens.

When people across an organisation create and share content (rather than just marketing) not only is the message more intimate it’s more believable as I, like you, will tend to gravitate to the messages coming from people "just like me."

As people across an organisation create this niche content more and more gaps are filled and long-tail phrases are used which in turn makes the communications more easily discovered and more engaging when it is.

6000 pages of unique content per year from a small company!

Again, the numbers don’t lie. If you have a company of 1000 staff and just 50% of them write one article per month that creates 6000 pages of content per year.

Was Danny scared in the Shining, of course he was but he confronted that fear. Just like you need to.

2. Someone young dies

- Your business is about to die but you can’t put your finger on why. 

Marketing isn't generating the kind of leads it used to.

Why are your advertising budgets up and leads are down?

Why cold calling no longer works.

Your email campaign is drying up.

It’s not too late to stop this horror and madness!

3. A Kid Has 'The Shining' Or A Supernatural Ability

- Someone on your team has noticed that the tide has shifted. That things are not the same as they were.

There is noise and chatter on social and they are really tuned into it. To an almost paranormal like level! 

Heck some of their content might be getting good traction, they might of even had a lead or two from it. They just haven't met their Doc yet who can explain how their “shine” works and how to best leverage it to generate revenue and commercial interaction but not just that hiring opportunities, marketing opportunities and employee advocacy too.

These people should be prized on your team and their shine should really be allowed to "shine".

Because all work and no play make Jack a dull boy!

4. Kids Suffering From High School Bullies

- There is an underlying fear of social, that you’ll be humiliated, ridiculed and bullied. It’s the fear of the unknown. How do we behave on social and how does that affect our bottom line?

But like anything else it requires discipline and strategy.

And training so that we stay inside lines that don’t damage our reputation, personal brand or business. 

It’s fairly simple but like the hero of any Stephen King novel it requires trust, self belief and courage.

What if people don’t like what I say? Well, so what if they don’t! It doesn’t matter. In a universe of "average" having a position on things is important. Clearly, being offensive or discriminatory is never a good idea, but it doesn’t matter whether the reader agrees or disagrees, what matters is they feel something and leave a comment.

5. The Book always takes place in MaineIt’s a good job that you don’t adopt this philosophy in life otherwise you’d have no friends! A large, diverse network is more powerful than a small one. No ifs, no buts, this is a fact.

- LinkedIn is your Maine, same setting every day. But with a whole cast of characters you can play with and interact with on your business journey. But I don’t want to connect to people I don’t know.

Not everyone is a killer clown waiting to drag you down a sewer outlet.

So get out there and connect and grow and meet your digital neighbours!

6. A Pawn shop is always featured - Usually hides some kind of demonic entity but also often a place of respite. A place where you can hang out and and have time to breath and find yourself through your content and allow all manner of growth to happen to you, your colleagues partners and peers as you sift through the dusty back catalogues on the digital shelves.

Well that’s all for now folks. 

And remember just Like Kathy Bates in Misery, I love you guys!