fear of selling or using a call to action

Strange but true and perhaps a cultural thing, I mean I am an Australian, but most business owners don’t like to ask for the sale in their social media. Why is that? Do they not want to sell their products and services? Surely having a social media presence has to be more than relationship building! There’s got to be a financial ROI somewhere! Right?

So why don’t business owners tell customers what they want them to do in their social media posts? What is it about calls to action which puts business owners off? Are you call to action (CTA) shy? And what can you do about it? Let’s explore some of the reasons…

They don’t want to seem pushy

Perhaps this is a particularly Australian issue, but I doubt it. We really don’t like tooting our own horn and telling people to do things. We’re more subtle with these CTAs and to be honest they come off as weak at best and ambiguous at worst.

Perhaps this is a hung up from the saying “People buy from people that they know, like, & trust.” Perhaps this is taken too literally and business owners are more concerned with building rapport.

Hate asking for the sale

Following on from not wanting to be pushy is not wanting to be salesy. In Australia there’s nothing more loathed than a slimey salesperson. You know the one who makes your skin crawl. We just don’t like them. They get under our skin and we really don’t want our businesses to be seen in the same light.

Fear of rejection

Many business owners say that they don’t use a call to action or ask for the sale because they’re afraid to be told, “no”. We want to be liked. We want to be helpful. We don’t like rejection.

They don’t know how

Strange but true. When asked, the vast majority said that they had no idea how to call their audience to action on social media. With changes in algorithms and flagged words, businesses are a little camera shy when it comes to using a call to action.

So how do you overcome some of these things?

JFDI

Well, you can white knuckle it and just put calls to action on all of your posts and hope you catch something.

The thing is, you ask for nothing and you will get nothing. Business owners who don’t use calls to action are less likely to receive action.

Vulnerability & Courage

It takes vulnerability and courage to ask for the sale. When you ask someone to do something for you there is always a risk that they will say no. What many business owners don’t realise is that by not making the offer, they choose to say no to themselves on the customer’s behalf and remove the chance to hear “yes”.

If you are afraid to hear a “no”, there are a few things to remind yourself of:
- it’s not personal
- it may not be the right time for them
- it’s not a “never”.

Use psychology

The biggest hurdle to social media is engaging the audience. There is research available which outlines the three main components to engaging an audience online:
- appeal to their sense of self
- offer an incentive
- include a call to action.

To engage an audience online, you need to do at least 2 of these. The psychology comes in when you appeal to their sense of self. Without appealing to the reader’s sense of self you are not showing them why responding to your call to action is important and how it will benefit them.

You can read more about the psychology of engagement here: https://www.karalambert.com/psychology-of-social-media/write-engaging-content-customers-want-respond/

Get someone or something to do it for you

You could use a template and ensure all your actions follow a set procedure that includes a call to action.  You can outsource your communication and have someone add it for you. Or you can use a tool that includes a call to action.

Conclusion

Too often we get in our own way of our own success. Not knowing how is one thing, not wanting to or being too nervous is akin to self-sabotage. Being in business requires grit and vulnerability, so do using calls to action.

I like the words of Maya Angelou in this:

Compete business

In business, do you compete with all the others or do you stand alone and do your thing? When times are lean do you console your colleagues saying how you’re finding things tough or do you stand alone and do your thing?

The other day while on my morning walk, I noticed that only a certain type of wattle was in bloom. It was beautiful – bright yellow against a sea of green. It’s Winter in Australia and there really aren’t too many other native flowers in bloom at this time. That said, there are still native bees and native birds looking for food and that’s when I had a thought about the wattle. It’s smart.

Come Spring and Summer, the Australian landscape will be awash with colour. If there are late rains there will be even more blooms around. That doesn’t bother the Wattle. By Summer time, the wattle’s seed will be ready to fall, some may have germinated, and it will be saving up its energy for Winter when all the other plants will be dormant. It’s not bothered by the other trees and shrubs in bloom. It’s not competing with them, in fact it’s ahead of the other plants in their cycles.

That made me think about what I had heard with other business owners.
“It’s end of financial year, no one has any money.”
“It’s holiday season here in Europe/US no one is around.”
These were tales of lack and woe. I’m not saying I’m immune. I lose clients each year in the lead up to the end of financial year. It used to bother me, now I realise that there are always better opportunities about to come by.

So when business quietens down, what to do? Do you do as the other businesses do and sing a tale of woe? Or do you do your own thing and bloom?

I know what I do, I learnt it many years ago now. In my last business, I spent far too much energy looking over my shoulder watching what my competitors were up to. I’d be angry when they copied or went straight to my big clients. I was forever feeling anxious.

The one day it stopped.

I decided enough was enough. Time to stand alone and bloom like the wattle. I decided to forget what they were up to and play my own game and concentrate on my own clients. That’s right, I even stopped worrying about the ones who walked. Why? Because the ones who stay are the ones who deserve my time and energy.

So, when you find that other businesses are feeling the pinch and times seem lean, do you join their tales of woe and shut down or do you stand firm like the wattle and bloom in the knowledge that when the weather fines you will be ahead of them?

Eye on the end goal

Many of my clients come to me to learn about social media, Facebook in particular, I teach them the tool but mostly I teach them about their client. I teach them about what motivates their client. The thing is, as a business coach, I’m more interested in what motivates them. I want to know what their end goal is. I want to help them achieve that.

Over the years, I’ve had people tell me that their end goal is to sell their business, that they want more vans on the road, that they want their own premises. They are so varied and I love all of them, I have to say “selling the business” is a favourite and always keeps me thinking.

When it comes to business coaching, the end goal for the business is one of the first things I ask about. I want to know what we are working towards. The thing about social media is that it needs to be drawing your audience to that end goal too. Social media is a tool, a means to an ends and not an end itself.

Let’s just be clear that it has to be more than just money, that’s a thing not a goal. If all you can think about is money, then consider what that money will allow you to do, that’s your goal. Money is but a means to an ends. Consider what you would do with your business if money wasn’t a barrier.

But to be honest, the process of how you come to your goal is irrelevant. Your goal can even change and in fact, it should if it isn’t serving you. However, this post is all about keeping it in sight, not how you come to it. There are some tools in my blog you can refer to:

• Discovering your passion article
• Dream business article
• Dream Business download
• Achieving your goals (JFDI) article

So you know what it is but why should you play the end goal?

The biggest benefit of playing the end game is focus. If you are consistently focused on your end game, you’re more likely to achieve it. You’re also less likely to be distracted by other things along the way. Too often I find that business owners are distracted by the idea of developing a new offer or a new tool and they lose sight of the end game. That can waste time and other resources.

Playing the end game keeps me grounded. Now I’m back to spreading the word about the importance of understanding the psychology in your business, I am dogged. I am centred. I am passionate. All of these things come across to my audience and they are less confused as to what I do and why they need me.

Your messaging is on point. With your eye on the end game, you are focused and that makes it easier to speak to that one thing. To make your point. To move yourself and your fans to that end. It helps you to be brief, clear, and accurate.

So, do you know your end goal? What would help you play the end goal?

Keys to unlocking your passion

The other day I attended a pre-interview meeting. In this meeting, the interviewer was trying to choose which topic to focus on for the interview. To narrow it down, they said to me “imagine you’re scuba diving. What topic could you talk about for hours underwater”. Now I was often told I could talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles, but I got the point. What was my passion?

I’m a little different when asking people what their passion is. I’d like to know what they would love to yell about into a loud hailer from the top of the tallest building in their town.

But the problem I often encounter from people is: “Kara, I don’t know what my passion is?” So how do you uncover your passion if you don’t know what you’d shout into that loud hailer?

What annoys you most about your industry?

I have to admit that this plays a part in how I came to my passion. I was so annoyed with the constant chatter around images, and metrics, and tools, and hacks. I became disillusioned with colleagues who were all selling the next shiny object. I was heartbroken for the people who contacted me who felt utterly disconnected from their audience and their business. This drove me to flip the social media industry on its head and concentrate on the ‘social’ rather than the ‘media’ everyone else had their eye on.

So what is it in your industry that drives you wild? Is there part of it you could flip on its head? Or could you take a 180 approach to what everyone else is doing?

History repeats itself

In the craze of hustle, push, and achieve, I look back. It’s no surprise if you know how many years I spent in quality assurance or if you’ve done my goal setting & review work, that I will often look back to where I’ve been. The thing is that if you look back through your schooling and your career, you will find commonalities. There is a thread which travels through our lives and ties it together. It doesn’t have to be a vocation, though mine is psychology. You might find that you were often called on for one particular trait. You might find that there was a task you always enjoyed. You might find that there was something you once enjoyed but forgot. Sit down and write these down and look for threads.

So what?

The other week a business coaching client had been watching Simon Sinek’s Ted talk on “Start with why” and was struggling to move their definition from what they do to why they do it. This strategic thinking is not something we are generally required to do, it is something I’ve had to do through my government career. There is a key to flicking your thinking to a more strategic focus and all it takes is repeatedly answering the same two word question: “So what?”

Now I admit to using this technique on myself and yes I annoyed the crap out of myself by doing it, it works. I often find it helps using the tone of a petulant child. When you think you can’t answer it any more, ask it at least once more because you will be surprised just how much clarity you can achieve. Write down the answers and watch the progression.

Break down your passion into parts and ask the question of each of the parts. So what about the audience? So what about the motivator? So what about the benefit? So what!

Still stuck on defining your passion?

What do customers say about you and your business? Is there are key thread? Is there a particular part of the interaction they enjoy? Customers are incredible mirrors and will show you what you don’t see in your business. The glorious part of using their feedback is that it’s in words they will understand when you use it in marketing.

So why do you need to define your passion?

Well other than the obvious scenario like I was in, it helps to guide your business. Having a dogged direction , purpose, and reason makes marketing clear and it makes it easier for any staff to understand and get on board. With this clarity you will save time and be more productive & that’s always a good thing in business.

What is human-centred social media?

Over the past six months I’ve attended a few social media conferences and there’s one consistent trend – human-centered social media. Now, if you’ve been following me for a while, you will know that this is actually nothing new to me. In fact, I first wrote about this back in 2014. I have to be honest, I didn’t think I was that much of a ground-breaker and I hoped that it would take less time for the idea to filter through. Clearly I was wrong. Anyway, what is human-centred social media and why should we care?

Human-centred social media is more than benefits and WIIFM

Say what now? Ok, so some of you might be surprised and others will be scratching your head wondering what I mean and some will be high five-ing me. Let’s start with those scratching their heads.

WIIFM, or what’s in it for me, is the principle of perspective taking and looking at what the client gets out of the transaction. Benefits are a business looking at the features of their offer and telling clients what they will get out of it. It’s essentially two sides of the same coin. However there is no guarantee that they will match or align in any way.

I have to be honest there are two main flaws in this approach:

• Who has time to assess benefits against needs as a customer?
• It seems a little shallow.

The vast majority of the time I hear this, businesses will talk about outcomes and benefits. I really don’t believe that’s putting the client at the centre of their social media, I feel they are putting their offer at the centre. As clients, there is so much more that drives our decision making than outcomes and benefits and in fact, there are a lot of things which go into these alone.

As a customer, when presented with a list of benefits, I still have to match them with what I want to achieve or what I want. I’m still trying to work out if the offer is the right fit for me. I’m not at the centre of this transaction.

At this point, some of you might think that this is awfully self-centred of me. But stop and think for a moment whose money you’re trying to acquire. It’s the customers. Do you want to raise doubt in their mind? Do you want to make it hard for them to part with their money? Then it also raises the question of how you even come to understand them anyway???

Personally, human-centred anything comes back to putting the following at the centre: what drives us to do what we do, know what we want, make a decision, spend money, like/comment/share. I believe that human-centred social media is more than what we are being told it is. In fact, I know that it’s more than what we are being told because there is a whole heap of psychology which drives what we define as a benefit or ‘what’s in it for me’.

I want human-centered business practices, not just social media, to be a strategic focus. I firmly believe that it’s good business practice and not just some fluffy feel good add on or differentiator. We rely so much on people, people power, and goodwill. The thing is, I believe that taking the approach I advocate is a strategic focus as it looks at people at their base level, their psychology and their motivators.

I believe it’s time to move social media marketing away from a focus on the platform and the tools, to the person you’re aiming for who is using the social media. This is human-centred social media. By focusing on the person, the platform becomes somewhat irrelevant. By focusing on the person, we can address them the same way across platforms. By focusing on the person, we can continue conversations more fluidly between platforms and off of them. By focusing on the person, we reduce the overwhelm felt by business owners trying to understand the platforms. By focusing on the person, our message becomes clear. By focusing on the person, they feel understood. By focusing on the person, they don’t have to guess how we serve them. By focusing on the person, they are more closely aligned with our brand. By focusing on the person, they are more engaged. By focusing on the person, they are happier with the service they receive. By focusing on the person, they are more likely to buy from us. By focusing on the person, we grow raving fans.

How do I define human-centred social media? I define it by looking at what motivates us. I believe that there are five key motivators of any and all human behaviour. I’ve put together this 30 minute training package which outlines precisely what these motivators are and from there you can use them in your human-centered marketing to align and motivate your clients to action. You can purchase access to the training through the online shop. If you have any questions or would like to interview me on this, please contact me via email at kara@karalambert.com.

Conferences learning connection and networking

Ever looked at event and thought, “Nah, I won’t go, I won’t learn anything”? I have, often. Often I’ve not gone and not thought a second thing of it. I’ve also missed them and had massive FOMO when I saw who was there. That’s when it dawned on me, these events aren’t just about learning, they’re about networking.

Back in March I attended Social Media Marketing World (SMMW) in San Diego. I did it with the explicit purpose to network. Sure, I went to the premier social media conference to network! I did learn, a lot. That was a bonus. But with all I learnt, it was the connections I made which were the most useful.

Some of the people I met at SMMW, I had known online for 4 years. Yet it was the first time I had seen them face to face. There’s something about seeing someone and being able to shake their hand or give them a hug. While video is great, it can’t replace actually being there.

I found my tribe there. I found a group of Australians utterly passionate about social media. While we were there we were able to compare notes on how things differed to back in Australia, how we would implement it, things we would change. We took what we learnt to another level. Now back in Australia we have a reference and referral group. We call on each other for support and guidance. It’s reassuring and incredibly powerful.

Last week I attended Social Media Day Adelaide. Again, I attended for the sole purpose of networking. I had met an attendee a month earlier who had suggested I attend. Again, I didn’t attend so that I could learn (though I did), I attended to network (and I did).

You see, I could have easily decided not to go. I’m not an Agency. I don’t want to be. I don’t run social media for a company I work for (though I have clients I still do this work for). While I do the social media for my business, it’s not something I need to learn from the grass roots – it’s something I consult on. So why did I go and what did I achieve?

I went to network.

It’s easy when you work for yourself to decide that networking is a waste of time. That industry events are a waste of time. That you don’t want to deal with competitors. But if you stay in that space, you miss out. Sometimes you have to set your ego aside and meet with people for the sake of meeting with them.

So what happened? Well I caught up with the person who invited me to attend and he introduced me to the organiser. I met up with people who had heard me speak at Big Digital earlier in the year and hear what they had to say. I met with a lady who I had known online and we chatted through the day. I offered my help to a business and I was invited to do a radio interview.

If I hadn’t attended, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t have developed or deepened relationships. I would have likely had a case of FOMO. I also wouldn’t have learnt what I did about social media use in Australia. I wouldn’t have thought about the public perception of what an internet influencer stereotypically looks like. And I wouldn’t have had this piece to write.

Too often we look at what we can get out of events in what we can learn and too little do we consider what we can receive in the halls and breaks. We also discount what we are able to give in these situations. We forget that networking is sometimes more valuable to our business than the learning but it’s still something we get to take away.

social media content calendar

So you would think after running social media for over 7 years now I would have a social media content calendars and I would have that thing down pat. Nope. Not me. In fact, I used to believe that that made me unstrategic in my content. That couldn’t be further from the truth either. I am in fact quite strategic. Perhaps it’s that I’m not much of a planner and more a seat of my pants kind of gal, a la Pretty Woman. Nope, I am a certified Type A personality. I am very organised (don’t confuse that with neat though) So why don’t I use a content calendar?

It’s quite simple. I’ve never found one I liked, not even some I could mash together and call my own. I’ve often heard people talk about content calendars and to be honest I had a little fomo because I didn’t have one. Then it struck me why.

Social media content calendars are way to plan out your content. Some have some method and pattern to the types of content you post. This could be vlog, image, shared content. Or it could be quote, testimonial, blog, sales pitch.  It’s telling you the type of content to post not the topic.

Some people develop content topic lists. I’ve looked at these lists, hey I even developed one of my own for blogging a few years ago, but I find they fall sort. Here’s why.

Content calendar topic lists fall short in my mind because it’s one person’s opinion on what topics suit my business and my audience. Sorry, but that’s not going to work for me. I know I’m not the only business and social media coach in the world but I’m pretty unique in the way I think about things. I bet you have your own competitors but you also have your own unique position and proposition in the industry too. So why would a generic list work when you’re individual? (to an extent)

The lists of topics are often written from the business perspective. This means that the topics are there to serve you as the business owner and the business as a whole. Last I checked businesses were there to serve their audience, not be self-serving (sadly too many still are).

If there are topics that are written from the audience perspective, how many of them address the individual and specific motivators of your audience? Do they consider what motivates your audience to choose your business over another? Does it consider the key objections and what drives these objections? Wouldn’t you want your content to answer these questions for you? They are in fact your silent salesman.

The other issue I have with social media content calendars is that they generally don’t tell you how to formulate the post nor do they tell you the best time of that particular day to post it. So I wonder what the benefit is in having these lists of topic that may not meet the needs of your target audience, a schedule of the types of posts to publish, but no idea of what time of day to publish them, and how to write them up?

So what do I recommend?

Well now you’re aware, you can make a more educated choice.
Put your client first. Meet their needs first.
Look at the psychology of an engaging post.
Look at the statistics of when your people are on social media and post then.
Yes, I do have one that I sell, but it’s part of my Organic Facebook Course (because winning content is so much more than the topic).
And if you’ve done all of these, then it’s time we talked about your social media content and how you connect with your audience.

What is Facebook Organic Reach and why does it matter?

Facebook organic reach is the number of people who had an unpaid post from your Page enter their screen. Organic reach can be broken down into viral and nonviral:

• Viral: The number of people who had any content from your Page or about your Page enter their screen because their friend likes or follows your Page, engages with a post, shares a photo of your Page and checks into your Page.
• Nonviral: The number of people who had any content from your Page enter their screen. This doesn't include when someone's friend likes or follows your Page, engages with a post, shares a photo of your Page and checks into your Page.

Excerpt from Facebook Help

To simplify, nonviral includes what you see in your Newsfeed because you follow a page.

So why does Facebook Organic  Reach matter?

To be honest, most businesses I speak to do not have the money to constantly run Facebook Ads to push their page, content, or product/service into the Newsfeed of their desired audience. It’s as simple as that.

Nonviral Facebook Organic Reach is their primary aim. They want their posts seen by their fans in their Newsfeed. Just like it was in the good old days of Facebook, before Facebook Ads or the Facebook Algorithm. When they were able to put up a post and have it seen and the people buy from it. Oh the memories!

Viral Organic Reach on Facebook is important for growing their audience. They want new fans, new clients. They want to improve their social proof with an increased number of fans.

Is Facebook Organic Reach really that necessary?

While the statistics are old, let’s look at just how many business pages rely on Organic Reach rather than ads. The latest statistic on how many Facebook Pages there are dates back to 2015, at that point there were at least 50 Million Facebook Business Pages. Of those 50 Million, 4 Million (as at 2016) were advertising on Facebook. That’s eight percent of Facebook Pages who run ads. Which means 92% rely on Organic Facebook Reach alone.

Not only does that number alarm me but it says that this is important.

So why isn’t Facebook Organic Reach taken seriously?

I’m not sure that most Marketers or social media coaches understand what it is and what proportion of the Facebook Business marketplace relies solely on organic Facebook Reach. I have to be honest; I didn’t until I did some research. What I did know was how many people came to me for help or downloaded my ebook on it. I knew how many people had attended my workshops and completed my course. All of these numbers pale into just how many Facebook Pages do NOT advertise.

The other issue is that when you do a search for “Facebook Organic Reach” on Google you end up with millions of pages telling you how reach is falling and Facebook Pages are dead. The thing is that with page numbers tripling from 16 M in 2013 to over 50 M in 2015, it seems that Pages are most certainly alive. With 92% of these pages not advertising, why would anyone believe that most of them can’t afford to advertise? And who says reach is falling?

Below are the insights of two of the Facebook Pages I still manage, I no longer offer social media management as I would rather put these skills in the hands of the 46 Million or so page owners who need it.

Page has 364 fans

These are not once off. These are regular numbers. If you look back through my Facebook Page, you will see. I’ve taught countless businesses how to do it for themselves. So why do businesses continue to believe the lies that pages are dead and reach is falling?

I honestly don’t know because everything I see and do points the other way.

How do I get it the high Organic Reach on Facebook?

I’ve run Facebook Pages since 2011. I’ve seen the introduction of the Facebook Algorithm and Facebook Ads. I’ve learnt through those years and these changes how to manipulate the Algorithm and what to post on Facebook. I’ve learnt what content is best posted at which times. I’ve researched the psychology of social media, Facebook, and engaging posts. I’m not sure that those sources saying that Facebook Organic Reach has dropped can say the same.

But in the end, does Facebook Organic Reach truly matter?

It does. To 92% of Facebook Page Owners, this is the only way their posts, products, & services will be seen. When over 90% of a market relies on one way to market themselves, that makes it important. These people need to know that the time they’ve invested isn’t lost. They need to know that the ‘random’ success they’ve seen is actually repeatable. They need to know that as the majority, this matters and is feasible.

The three things I’ve learnt in 4 years of blogging

In the start of June 2014, I started blogging for this business. The business was very different back then. I was a proof reader, copy editor, and website auditor. I don’t provide any of these services any more but one thing I still do is a weekly blog (during school terms). Now that has meant that the subject matter has varied ever so slightly, I have learnt a fair bit about blogging in this time. So what have I learnt and how can you use it with your blog – in fact any time you create content?

It’s not about me in my blogging

A good proportion of my blog is me imparting knowledge to others. This could be things I find, it can also be the stuff that rattles around in my skull. This stuff is definitely not about me. Like this blog, it’s about you – the reader. None of this is self-serving. I do this to answer questions I see and hear. I do this to remove overwhelm and angst I see.  Even if I get something out of it, at most an email address, I still come at this from a place of service.

Here’s the kicker. Even when I am the subject matter, it’s not about me. When I’m writing about my experiences, I do so to show you that you’re not alone. I don’t want to be the guru preaching divine practice from the mount. I’m human and I want you to see that I fall and get up again. I want you to learn from me. That means holding a mirror to my actions and showing you the lesson.

Be vulnerable with your blogging

I know, it’s hard. It’s not just emotionally hard to be vulnerable. It can also be professionally hard to be vulnerable. In fact, it’s this second space which held me back the longest.

Here’s a secret when it comes to both blogging and vulnerability. Most people read blogs to connect with the blogger. They want a little insight into them and their lives. This is precisely what being vulnerable does. It allows the reader insight into who you truly are.

There is a benefit to this. Other than the fact that it can be quite cathartic. Being vulnerable in your blogging gives that ‘like, know and trust’ factor a massive injection of all three.

Blogging content comes from the strangest places

I will raise my hand high and  proud to say that I am a bad blogger. I do not have a content clanedar. In fact, I’m very much the uni/high school student blogger, who blogs at the 11^th hour. Now does that mean that I have crappy content? I hope not. Does it mean that my topics are often not strategic? A lot of the time. Does it mean that my blogs come together quickly? Now they do. Does it mean that my blogs are raw? They sure are!

That’s the thing. I am a bit of a life blogger, you might say. I blog from my life, from what I see and hear. I blog the topics which whizz around me. I’m a bit of an intuitive blogger. I take the topics which I see appearing repeatedly in my life and I blog RIGHT THEN!

Here’s the gold in all of this blogging knowledge

You can take these tips and apply it to any content creation. You can apply it to your emails. You can apply it to your videos. You can apply it to your Instagram. And you can certainly apply it to your Facebook Posts.

Being focused on your audience, being vulnerable, and being relevant is just good content creation. And I hope I give that to you.

business bullying

There is a growing trend online in attacking business owners. Frankly I’m sick of it. I’m not talking about disagreeing on things or complaining about a product or service. What I am talking about is the growing incidence of bullying of business owners online. So what do I mean?

The Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) define cyberbullying as:

Cyber-bullying or stalking occurs when someone engages in offensive, menacing or harassing behaviour through the use of technology. It can happen to people at any age, anytime, and often anonymously.

Examples of cyber-bullying include:

• posting hurtful messages, images or videos online
• repeatedly sending unwanted messages online
• sending abusive texts and emails
• excluding or intimidating others online
• creating fake social networking profiles or websites that are hurtful
• nasty online gossip and chat, and
• any other form of digital communication which is discriminatory, intimidating, intended to cause hurt or make someone fear for their safety.

They also go on to say that while not all cyberbullying is criminal, there are penalties of up to $30 000 or 3 years imprisonment for serious offences. They also say that all Australian states & territories have laws against stalking.

So while all of these legal protections are in place, my concern is actually why it happens in the first place and what business owners can do.

So while ACORN list what bullying is, it’s interesting to look into what fuels the behaviour. Especially when it’s unprovoked by the business owner. What do I mean by unprovoked? I’m talking about instances where the business owner is bullied by someone who hasn’t bought a product or service and experienced poor workmanship or service. In fact, the often benefit from the free material and their attacks are personal in nature. They could have consumed a whole liturgy of free material, without fear or favour, and then attack the business owner out of the blue.

So why do people bully?

The person doing the bullying wants power or control over the person they are bullying.

But what drives their need for control or power?

I will continue to say that we have 5 key motivators: beliefs, fears, needs, goals, and values. When we become out of sync with these motivators we become stressed and this can manifest in many ways. The two main ways we manifest stress is either internally or externally. Bullies are externalising this imbalance.

So some researchers say that the need for power comes from stress, trauma, learnt behaviours, insecurities. Some of this is an expression of fear. Fear of losing someone, fear of losing control. Some of this is a poor belief and value structure. That could be low self-esteem, that the business owner should be able to take it, that it’s online so it doesn’t matter, that you can’t read tone into online comments so it’s ok.

What I believe is that while they have fallen out of sync with their core motivators, they have also dehumanised the business owner to the business. The sad thing is that they want to be seen as an individual. They are generally personally affronted by something the business owner has done and attacks because they don’t feel like an individual, doing precisely what they feel has been done to them – dehumanised.

In the end, we need to realise that regardless of if the relationship between the business owner and the individual is going well or is a bullying one, we need to remember that there is a person at either end of this. Dehumanising is destructive. To fight this, I encourage business owners to stand up against this. Report the bullying activity to the social media platform (if the bullying is on the platform), report it to the Internet Service Provider if it’s via email, report it to the police, and/or report it to ACORN.

Finally I want to encourage the community as a whole to reclaim the term keyboard warrior from these people. These bullies are not warriors. Warriors protect, defend, and serve. Warriors are strong. I want those who stand up against online bullying to claim the term ‘keyboard warrior’, for we are the warriors in this.