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Top 5 Reasons I’m Thankful

: #1 Reason I’m Thankful = Family

When I started writing this post, I was 11 minutes late for work. Which normally would completely make me nuts. I HATE to be late! But today I’m not bothered all – because I don’t have a job. At least until Monday. And I’m thankful for that. It gives me time to catch up on blog posts that I’ve been wanting to write, prepare for events in the next few weeks, and spend some time with my family. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S. and I’m thankful for these things and so much more.

Here are the “Top 5” reasons I’m thankful:

1. Family – they are the most important people in my life and I’m thankful for every day I can share with them.

2. Friends (online and in real life) – running a close second are my friends who are there for me no matter what and challenge me to be even better than I thought I could be.

3. Health (well, as healthy as Mostyn Medical Mayhem can be) – although it’s a holiday and we know how special occasions have a tendency to turn out around our house…

4.”Me Time” (see above) – plus some time for spending with family and friends and hopefully getting in a few hours reading a great book or two.

5. Work – in this economy I’m grateful to have a job and looking forward to helping propel my new employer from a quality regional bank to total world domination through amazing ecommerce marketing! 😉

I know this hasn’t been my usual type of post, but I wanted to let my friends/fans/followers/readers know how much I appreciate you and how thankful I am for all the good things going on in my life right now, so I hope you’ll forgive me this indulgence. I’d love to hear what you’re thankful for this holiday season, please leave me a comment below and if you’ve got any great “Me Time” light reading book suggestions, feel free to leave those, too!

: Karma, Sharon, Kathy, & Debbie

People who are connected on Twitter.com are termed “followers” and “following” each other. Inexperienced marketers often use the number of “followers” as a key performance indicator (KPI), but I disagree that this metric should be a measure of social media success. Social media success should be based on the engagement of your network. The following quote by Albert Camus, French author and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, describes the way I try to develop my relationships on social media:

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

Somehow, in less than four months I’ve managed to gather more than 700 Twitter followers. In a bit more time than that I’ve also got more than 200 Facebook friends and almost 300 LinkedIn contacts. I’m grateful, but I’d rather have 7 Tweeps that I can have an actual conversation with than 700 people who never respond to my Tweets. Maybe it’s the term that Twitter uses for connections – “followers” implies to me that they are going to go where I lead, but in the new world of social media we’re all starting out on the same footing so I’m looking for someone to share ideas with not to follow my lead. Karma, Debbie, Kathy, and I have been friends since elementary school. I know I can pick up the phone, send an email or instant message, or see them in person and they will join me in conversation. No one leads, no one follows, everyone contributes. That’s what I want from social media.

Do you want to gather followers in a race to see who can get the highest quantity without worrying about quality? How do you determine social media success? I like to use the KPI’s presented in Eric T. Peterson’s Twitalyzer – influence, signal, generosity, velocity, and clout. What tools do you use for social media measurement? Please leave a comment below to let me know and join the conversation!

Top 5 Reasons I’m Thankful

Quit Following Me!