Author: Amber Bradley

How to Re-Inspire Employee Engagement

Why Employees Matter More Than Customers

Your employees are the face of your brand.  When employees know all aspects of your product and process, then they are positioned to make the best first impression.  Employees control the customers’ shopping experience. An engaged employee engages with customers.  Engaged customers buy your products and fall in love with your brand.

Sounds great, but the reality is over 70 percent of employed Americans are considered to be disengaged employees.  That is three-quarters of your team not engaging with customers.  How long can your business afford those missed purchasing opportunities?

10 Shocking Stats about Employee Engagement
10 Shocking Stats About Employee Engagement
To stay connected with our employees’ engagement, organizations need to broaden their view of where employees are being motivated.  Employees are now influenced on a global level not just an immediate workplace level.

Take Advantage of the 6 Global Megatrends

Organizations with the highest employee engagement achieve 2.5 times the revenue growth.  The Hay Group Leadership 2030 research identified six megatrends that are negatively impacting employee engagement:

1) Globalization 2.0: An economic shift of power is occurring from the West to the East.

The Advantage: Globalization simply means employees are learning how to cooperate with not only their coworkers but people of many cultures.  Widen your perspective and equip your employees with the necessary skills to communicate on a global level.

2) Environmental Crisis: The environment is becoming more important to people.

The Advantage: Employees will become more concerned over environmental sustainability. Listen.  When your employees feel heard they continue their trust in the organization.

3) Demographic Change: Aging populations are changing the global workforce and antagonizing the battle for talent.

The Advantage: Ensure you are investing in your entire population of workers.  Developing and mentoring your employees will help to inspire employee engagement and demonstrate your commitment to them.

4) Individualism: With the freedom of choice comes fickle loyalty.

The Advantage: Individually recognize individuals and enable knowledge-sharing.  Celebrate the individuals of the team.

5) Digitization: the workplace is going online and remote.

The Advantage: Constant access equals non-stop opportunity to grow skill sets.  Help employees develop their individual skill sets.

6) Technological Convergence: Transformative technology is changing everyday life and new product markets.

The Advantage: Change can breed uncertainty, but transparency fosters confidence.  Communicate clearly and honestly, and employees will remain connected to the organization’s journey.

Serve the Employee First, Customer Second

Taking advantage of the changing business environment is optimum, but it is also time to change who the organization’s leaders are truly serving.  If leadership only drives to serve customer’s than the needs of the employees are overlooked.  When employees’ needs are neglected, this continual offense disengages employees.  As a leadership team, review the goals of the organization with your employees.  Identify what information and resources the employees will need to reach those goals.  Serving the employee first, empowers the employee to exceed customer expectations.

Inspire Employee Action with the Calibration Group

Partner with Calibration Group, LLC to help serve your employees and inspire a revolution of re-engagement.  Calibration Group offers customized engagement programs to re-inspire your employees’ loyalty and zeal for your organization’s success.  With a personalized employee engagement strategy, Calibration can help you establish a corporate culture of success.

For more information, contact Calibration Group’s Founder and Owner, Amber Bradley at amber@calibrationgroup.com or visit our website: www.calibrationgroup.com

Isn’t It Time to Forgive?

Sometimes it’s ok to be real.
It’s ok to cuss.
It’s ok to smile so brightly you actually sing a little bit.
At Calibration, we know this because above all…we’re human.  To that end, we all can get a little sappy at times.  A little over the top.  And guess what?  That’s ok.  Even welcomed.

Here we are just before another national “celebration” of love, St. Valentine’s Day. I can’t help but recall one of my most favorite movies during this sappy time of chocolate hearts and extra-large peanut butter blobs.  The movie is About Time and if you haven’t seen it close this blog immediately and download it.  If your gut isn’t wrenching with sobs by the credits, you missed the point.

About Time is one of those movies that causes you to live deeper.  To breathe in each moment with your children, your spouse, or your partner.  To look up at the sky and be grateful for this amazing journey, as rocky and inspiring as it may get.  This national “love” day often reminds me that love, and life, is such a fragile thing.  If taken for granted, held in resentment, or not appreciated even for a moment, it’s gone or if not gone, wasted.  The worst form of wasted love is the kind that withers under a suffocating mask of resentment or anger.

As I grow up in the swells of this adulthood life, I’ve noticed one coveted lesson that hasn’t let me down.  It’s forgiveness.  Forgiveness.  Forgiveness. Easier said than done and I have a lot of people to thank for helping me learn this lesson.  Let’s take a look at its purest form from some forgiveness folks:

What is forgiveness?  Dispelling the Myths of Forgiveness

Andrea Brandt, Ph.D., M.F.T., clarified what forgiveness doesn’t mean:

  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean you are pardoning or excusing the other person’s actions.
  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean you need to tell the person that he or she is forgiven.
  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have any more feelings about the situation.
  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean there is nothing further to work out in the relationship or that everything is okay now.
  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean you should forget the incident ever happened.
  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean you have to continue to include the person in your life.
  • … and forgiveness isn’t something you do for the other person.

The Gift of Forgiveness

Marie Forleo,  Host and Founder of MarieTV, says forgiveness is a gift to you.  Forgiveness gives you mental, emotional, and spiritual freedom.  She suggests that forgiveness, though it may feel ominous, can be accomplished in just two simple steps.

Step #1: Forgive yourself

Don’t beat yourself up over allowing yourself to be hurt, betrayed, or lied to.  Seek out what you can learn from the situation and grow from it.

Step #2:  Forgive the person

Welcome the willingness to forgive, first.  Forleo explains how this willingness to forgive can melt the walls around your heart.  Then simply state, “I forgive [Insert Name here] for [Insert wrong here].”

I would also add a third step in my experience.  This step comes before forgiving yourself and may not apply to all situations, but I’ve found it applies to most if you are truly honest with yourself.  Ask yourself, “What was my role?”  What could I have done better, communicated better, how could I have been kinder, more understanding?  Did I truly listen?  Did I judge unfairly?   Did I jump to conclusions?  Did I let my own past perceptions color my view?

Asking yourself these eye-opening questions can cause even just the tiniest of sparks to realize, maybe you should forgive.  Maybe you did play a role.  Maybe it wasn’t the other person’s fault…entirely?  My mother and grandmother have often said, “As flat as a pancake is, it still has two sides.” Maybe we’re not as perfect as we once thought?

The Health Benefits of Forgiveness

Researchers have found that hostility is the central emotion to unforgiveness.  When research participants were asked to remember a previous transgression done against them their heart rate, blood pressure, and sweat gland activity increased.  Participants reported feeling angry, sad, anxious, and in less control.  After participants were asked to imagine forgiving their offender their physical arousal dropped to normal levels.  To minimize your stress and improve your health, consider forgiving the person and see how you can move past the negative emotion of unforgiveness to a more overall positive feeling of forgiveness.

If you’ve ever found that you’re carrying the weight of 1,000 cinder blocks or that sadness lump in your throat only grows with every awkward swallow – forgiveness might be your answer. Forgiveness means you are free from the hurt and negative emotions associated with the previous transgressions.  Free.  Free from hurt.

Isn’t it about time to forgive?  The result of forgiveness is that you are free to give completely without reservation.  The best gift you can give yourself. It’s the ultimate sign of courage and strength.

In one of the last scenes of About Time, the main character goes back to visit with his father one last time.  They don’t talk about who was right or who wronged them.  They spend their last moments of life, walking along the beach and reliving a childhood memory that was so dear to them both.

Life. Precious, fragile, and fleeting.  Isn’t it time to forgive?

Gratitude: A Bond That Never Breaks

Gratitude, that genuine appreciation for what we have, is all too familiar this time of year.  Often times we consider gratitude as the temporary warm, fuzzy feeling of being grateful for a possession or a situation.  Short-term gratitude is common place and easy to come by, but what about long-term gratitude?

Get Your Outlook Unstuck

How do we graduate from fleeting thankfulness to an overall outlook of gratitude?

@unstuck identified how the power of a compliment outlasted the passing of time.  When Mark Twain said, “I can live two months on a good compliment,” he only told half the story.

“While the person who receives the praise enjoys feeling noticed and valued, the giver can also bask in the connection.  With every compliment given, a bond is strengthened, trust is built, and conversation encouraged,” @unstuck. 

The Connection of Gratitude

Amazing how gratitude can improve our relationships with just one compliment!  Robert Emmons, Ph.D., a leading scientist on gratitude, argues, “I see it as a relationship-strengthening emotion because it requires us to see how we’ve been supported and affirmed by other people.”

At The Calibration Group, we couldn’t agree more with Emmons especially when he simply states, “gratitude acknowledges connection.”  We are learning that gratitude opens the door to life-giving relationships.  We are proud to announce our new partnership with the Restaurant Loss Prevention and Security Association (RLPSA).  We humbly compliment the RLPSA for the wealth of educationally rich content they continue to bring to the respective business tables within the restaurant loss prevention space, as well as their commitment to support the members of this unique association.

Gratitude: A Year Round Joy

Gratitude ignites a positive perspective that values and appreciates what we have in our network circle.  How have you complimented your connections and strengthened your bond this year?  Are you building that vital trust and encouraging open dialogue?

Join us this holiday season to recognize and compliment in others what we are most grateful for.  Warning:  Results may vary, but your gratitude might last through the entire New Year.

NEWS: RLPSA Selects Calibration for Executive Director Role

WASHINGTON, December 4, 2015 – The Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association (RLPSA) has elected to expand the role of Calibration Group, LLC within the organization by naming the firm as the new Executive Director. Over the last year, Calibration has served the members of the RLPSA by providing relevant educational content, assistance with event planning and coordination, as well as strategic marketing and communications initiatives.

“I am excited to announce the RLPSA Board of Directors has selected Calibration to champion the duties of Executive Director for our association,” said Rob Holm, RLPSA President and Senior Director, Safety & Security-US Operations at McDonald’s USA.  “Calibration’s founder, Amber Bradley, as well as the Calibration team have been widely recognized for their passion for providing education and value specifically for the Loss Prevention, Security, and Safety professions. That passion is well-aligned with the mission of the RLPSA, making Calibration very well suited for this important role.”

As the only organization focused on loss prevention and security in the restaurant industry, the RLPSA is dedicated to sharing resources, expertise, and knowledge amongst this unique community. The association’s membership includes the most accomplished and recognized leaders representing more than 100 different restaurant brands and 20 of the 25 largest brands in the U.S. The RLPSA is comprised of members from all restaurant segments, including Quick Service (QSR), Quick Casual, and Full Service Dining.

“My team and I are ecstatic the RLPSA has selected us to help carry on the mission of providing relevant content of interest for our members,” said Amber Bradley, owner of the Calibration Group. “Our commitment to the RLPSA members is to continue fostering a forum for the exchange of ideas, remaining responsive to their needs, promoting growth of the organization, and creating strategic alliances with solutions providers and other professional organizations that will maximize member value.”

For more information about RLPSA membership or the annual conference, contact our new Executive Director, Amber Bradley, at Amber@calibrationgroup.com or (770) 335-4891 or visit www.rlpsa.com.

About Calibration Group, LLC

Calibration Group, LLC is a full-service marketing, communications, and consulting firm specializing in providing relevant, educational content for the loss prevention, asset protection, and safety professions. Calibration has mastered the ability to move beyond simple awareness and communication. We create. We deliver. We inspire.

We asked, You Answered…and We’re Stoked

Our survey results are spectacular, and we are wickedly committed to working hard to maintain your level of trust! Check them out…

Calibration recently conducted a client satisfaction survey to gain insight on the perception of our company and the work we produce from our clients’ perspectives. Well, our clients answered the survey and the results are in! We are very excited to share a few of the findings with you!

When we asked our clients to comment on the statement, “We (Calibration) understand your needs and objectives,” 9% of our respondents agreed, and 91% strongly agreed!  This is great news! At Calibration we strive to understand our clients’ business and pride ourselves at truly being an extension of their team, especially when determining what course of action is the best plan. Getting to know our clients and their businesses in-depth is our priority at Calibration.

In the survey, the statement, “Overall, we take care of our clients,” was meant to evaluate the success of our efforts in putting the needs of our clients first. Once again, 9% of our respondents agreed and 91% strongly agreed!  We are committed to knowing everything we can about each and every one of our valued clients. We never want to forget that we succeed by making our clients successful. We have amazing clients and the trust and faith they put into our team is what makes it all possible.

This leads me to another survey result that I would like to share. We are constantly monitoring our client relationships to ensure we are exceeding expectations. To do that, we asked our clients to evaluate the statement, “We listen and take constructive feedback.” We were very happy to learn that 91% of our clients strongly agreed. But this is not good enough! We want our clients to know we are always listening! We strive to cultivate excellent client rapport. If our clients ever have any concerns we encourage them to let us know. On next year’s survey, we want the responses to be even better than this year’s!

Some of our clients had comments to add to the survey and we really appreciate their positive input. One respondent told us, “You and your crew are doing a great job for us! We couldn’t do it without you!” Another client gave us accolades for “open dialogue and a real ‘what can we do for YOU’ attitude that resulted in a great campaign!” There were other wonderful words from our clients, but the one I would like to end with is this: “Calibration is the driving force which has taken our organization to the next level.” So thanks one and all… it was great to hear from you!

Yes, we were extremely happy with our survey results and yes, we will strive harder than ever to make you truly value Calibration as a full-service marketing and communications firm that specializes in customizing marketing solutions just for you!

Cybercrime: Hero or Victim? You decide. [Infographic]

Today, the most valuable asset protection executives truly understand the importance of protecting their organization from cybercrime.  Check out Calibration’s infographic on how to tackle cybercrime by creating a team, training your employees and knowing where your organization is most vulnerable.

CAL1507_CyberSecurityInfographic_fn

Calibration has teamed up with former CIO of the White House, Theresa Payton and Fortalice Solutions to create actionable, interactive employee training.  Contact us to learn how we can help.

7 Tips to Protect Your Company from a Cyber-attack

Cyber security is a growing concern. In 2014 Apple, Sony, Neiman Marcus, and Target were high profile victims of cyber theft. But for every big company that has fallen prey to a cyber-attack, there are hundreds of small businesses which have also been targeted. The potential for a cyber-attack is real for all companies, big and small, from cutting edge, high-tech corporations to traditional institutions. Phone companies, credit card services, department stores, hospitals, social media sites, and even government offices are possible targets. The scale of cybercrime is growing and no company is safe. It seems the bad guys are forging ahead in this race. It is important for you to understand: Cyber security is your problem.

Many companies resort to hoping that a cyber-attack doesn’t happen to them and fail to prepare for one. Ernst & Young, in its “Get Ahead of Cybercrime” report, says that companies “lack awareness, budget and skills to prevent a cyber-attack.”

The challenge is how do you manage risk, reduce the threat of cyber-attack, and implement sufficient security while budgets for these activities remain static? How do you allocate resources and staff to address the growing concerns of cyber-attack while conducting everyday business? Where can you find trained cyber security specialists to help you begin to build your defenses against cyber-attacks? If you do experience a cyber-attack, how can you minimize the damage it could cause?

Here are some tips for protecting your company and preventing or reducing loss:

  1. Educate your employees through cybersecurity awareness and training. Educated employees reduce breach costs by 76 percent!
  2. Be aware of what data is vulnerable to a cyber-attack. This allows you to focus on the areas of your business that need the most protection.
  3. Work to install multi-factor authentication systems rather than using a single password. Making it difficult for cyber hackers to break through the security wall may deter them from their nefarious tasks.
  4. Be vigilant. Early detection is vital. Notifying your company’s security team and law enforcement in the earliest stage of a cybercrime may significantly limit your losses.
  5. Act quickly. Fast action may hamper the efforts of your cyber-attackers to access or use your information.
  6. Make an effort to secure your data with workable solutions such as setting up segmented networks, deleting unneeded information, or using encryption.
  7. Keep informed about the latest equipment and security systems as they become available. This may require an investment of funds, but managing risk and protecting your company is worth the cost.

Cybercrime is a real threat. “Heartbleed” bugs, “Shellshocks,” and “Sandworms” can penetrate your company’s computers, databases, and security walls. A breach in security can undermine your daily operations, destroy consumer trust, and leave you wondering what to do next. Though it is impossible to protect your company from every threat, there are things you can do and steps you can take to thwart cyber attackers. Is your company protected from cyber-attack?

Check out a cybersecurity stat video we created in collaboration with our partner, Fortalice Solutions.  We partner with Founder and CEO of Fortalice, Theresa Payton, to create dynamic and inspiring cybersecurity awareness solutions for all types of businesses.  Payton is the former CIO of the White House in the Bush Administration.

NEWS: RLPSA Selects Calibration, LLC as its Marketing Partner

The nation’s only trade association dedicated to loss prevention, security and risk in the restaurant industry partners with Calibration to strategically market its brand

ATLANTA, March 26, 2015 – The Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association (RLPSA) selects Calibration, LLC to strategically market its brand, drive valuable content to its members and solution providers as well as continue to improve its existing events.

RLPSA will also ramp up its efforts to facilitate valuable industry conversations on relevant hospitality loss prevention, security and risk topics.

“We selected Calibration due to its expertise in marketing and loss prevention,” says Jim Forlenza, executive director of RLPSA. “We believe our members and solution provider partners will benefit greatly from having messaging and content expertise combined with industry knowledge and relationships,” Forlenza says.

“We look forward to delivering measurable value for RLPSA,” says Amber Bradley Virgillo, owner and chief brand strategist for Calibration, LLC.  “The hospitality industry looks to RLPSA as the source of information for loss prevention, security and risk, and we’re very excited to be part of the engine that drives value to those loss prevention professionals,” says Virgillo.

About the Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association
The Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association (RLPSA) is the nation’s only trade association dedicated to loss prevention, security and risk management professionals in the restaurant industry. For more information about RLPSA membership or the annual conference, please contact Jim Forlenza, Executive Director, at jim.forlenza@rlpsa.com or 240-252-5542. Visit RLPSA’s website for more information.

About Calibration, LLC
Calibration Marketing is a full-service marketing and communications firm specializing in customized marketing solutions for any size business.  Calibration has mastered the ability to move beyond simple awareness and communication.  We inspire action. Visit Calibration’s website here.

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FMI: Daily Wrap-Up Videos

The Calibration team was honored to provide daily marketing support to the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) Asset Protection conference March 9 – 13 in Memphis, TN last week.  Our video team was busy creating daily wrap-ups overnight for featured playback during the morning keynote session.

Check them out!

Golf tournament wrap up: Snow in Memphis?

Day 1 Wrap Up: Attendees get their Peabody duck on!

Day 2 Final Wrap Up: Elvis has left the building!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here!

NEWS: Calibration Partners with Former White House CIO

Calibration Partners with Cybersecurity Expert Fortalice Solutions, LLC to Help Retailers Tackle Cybersecurity Awareness

Former CIO of the White House partners with messaging expert to deliver valuable cybersecurity educational resources to retailers

ATLANTA, March 5, 2015 – Calibration, LLC and Fortalice Solutions, LLC form a partnership to help retailers tackle cybersecurity awareness for their front-line employees.  The costs for security events, like data breaches, are reduced by 76 percent when employees are effectively trained.  This partnership combines Fortalice Solutions’ un-matched cybersecurity expertise with Calibration’s proven formula of inspiring action within corporate cultures to create a valuable awareness solution for retailers.

“We are extremely proud to partner with Fortalice Solutions and Theresa Payton, former White House Chief Information Officer (CIO),” said Amber Bradley Virgillo, owner of Calibration, LLC. “Combining Theresa’s and her team’s expertise with our messaging and communications capabilities is the perfect marriage to make an impact for retailers.”

“With the least expensive security breach costing one retailer more than $750,000, retailers are in a must-act position when it comes to securing their digital assets,” said Theresa Payton, chief advisor and chief executive officer of Fortalice Solutions, LLC.  “We’re excited about this partnership because it helps retailers communicate with an audience most vulnerable to cyber scams: their employees.” Fortalice Solutions, LLC designs, develops, and deploys affordable customized services to protect against internet predators.

About Calibration, LLC
Calibration Marketing is a full-service marketing and communications firm specializing in customized marketing solutions for any size business.  Calibration has mastered the ability to move beyond simple awareness and communication, but inspire action.

About Fortalice Solutions, LLC
Fortalice Solutions, LLC founder, Theresa Payton, served as the White House Chief Information Officer (CIO) for two years.  She was the first woman to hold this position, and her team served the President and the 3,000+ members of the Executive Office of the President.  Now the Chief Advisor and CEO of Fortalice Solutions, LLC, Payton delivers security, risk and fraud consulting services to private and public organizations.

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VIDEO -NYC LIVE Quick Take #1

Calibration had a phenomenal time co-hosting the only LIVE loss prevention event in the industry!
We wanted to share the first quick take with my trusty co-host Joe LaRocca with the hopes of you tuning in to more “Quick Takes.”  We’ll be posting them on our blog but you can also find them here.

We’re very grateful for our ongoing partnership with the D&D Daily and innovator Gus Downing!  Looking forward to NRF in Long Beach, CA.
Stay tuned Calibrationites…c’mon, just smile for me out there – we are!!

Get Your Breach Defense On in 2015: Top 5 Security Trends in 2015

It seems like 2014 might be known as the year of the “breach.”  The constant stream of breaking news of data breaches affecting retailers, banks, governments and more kept us wondering, “who’s next?”  As criminals evolve and their targets widen, it begs the question, “what’s next for 2015?  More of the same”?

According to Thor Olavsrud, senior writer at CIO magazine, we can expect the “size, severity and complexity of cyber threats to continue increasing.”  Olavsrud cites the nonprofit association the Information Security Forum (ISF) to explain the top five security trends that will dominate 2015.

Summarized below are the key action items Olavsrud uncovers about each trend, as well as some questions relevant for your organization:

Trend 1: Cybercrime

Because cybercriminals use 21st century tools on 20th century systems organizations must be prepared for the unpredictable, which means:

  1. Know the cost of compliance and a potential breach
  2. Know what your business relies on the most to make a business case for protection

Question to consider:

–      How are you protecting your point-of-sale, networks, and in-store computers?

Trend 2: Privacy & Regulation

Treat privacy as both a compliance and a business risk issue to reduce regulatory sanctions and business costs such as reputational damage and loss of customers due to breaches.

Questions to consider:

–      How are we safeguarding personally identifiable information?

–      As more government regulations are imposed, do we have in-house counsel to help make sense of them?

Trend 3: Threats from Third-Party Providers

Are you remembering your supply chain?  Even the most innocent connections can be at risk. The Target attackers exploited a web services application that a company’s HVAC vendor used to submit invoices.  “Organizations should have business continuity plans in place to boost both resilience and senior management’s confidence,” quoted Olavsrud.

Questions to consider:

–      Do we have a risk assessment for our supply chain?

–      Is it scalable and repeatable for even our smallest vendor/supplier?

Trend 4: BYOx Trends in the Workplace

Remember BYOB?  This is less fun with the acronym “Bring your own box” – meaning employees brining their mobile devices to work.  And it’s a trend that is here to stay.

Olavsrud says that few organizations have comprehensive policies that help manage these devices at work.  Organizations should consider that employees often blur the boundary between work and personal information if they bring their mobile devices to work.  Expect your users to find a way to use their own devices for work even if you have a policy against it.  Instead of trying to fight the inevitable, construct a policy to ensure your organization has some recourse.

Questions to consider:

–      Do we have a comprehensive mobile device policy?

–      Is it followed?  Do we have consequences spelled out in the policy if it is not followed?

Trend 5: Engagement with your people

Everyone’s greatest asset and their most vulnerable target is its people.

Organizations should consider making sure its people are vastly aware of security protocol and the consequences of when it is broken.  Employees should also understand the data security protocol is each of his or her individual responsibilities, not just management. 

But organizations should also be proactive by making security behaviors part of the business process, “transforming employees from risks into the first line of defense in the organization’s security posture.”  Remember, people are the strongest part of control they have.

Questions to consider:

–      Are we addressing the human element of information security?

–      Do we have a comprehensive information plan that inspires people to protect our information?

–      What new behavior can we implement to reduce our risk?

To read Olavsrud’s original article published on CIO.com, click here.

This article was originally published in the Restaurant Loss Prevention & Security Association’s (RLPSA) newsletter, January 2015.

#hashtagpower: Embrace the Power of the Pound Symbol

Experience Hashtag Power

Twitter adopted the use of hashtags in 2007, and it’s no longer just for nerds.  The # (pound symbol) with words following becomes a searchable link within the Twitter community – the vital link between digital marketing and communication.  Because of this, hashtags have exploded into a powerful social media tool.

How do you tap into this power?  Sandeep Sharma shared his decade of marketing expertise at JeffBullas.com.  Sharma is convinced a little creativity and a dash of hashtags will equal instant social media success.

Be a Hashtag beneficiary!

Hashtags will:

-Classify your content, so you can be found easily.

-Expand your brand to have a wider reach online.

-Link you to other previously unreached audiences through association.

-Minimize content generation.  Use the hashtag sparingly, only 1-2 in a post.  Remember, Twitter only has a 140-character limit per Tweet.

-Make you unforgettable.  Hashtags are easy to remember because the power is in the simplicity.

Power Play: Create your own Customer Winning Hashtag

How do you create this social media game changer?  Rebecca Hiscott at mashable.com coaches beginner hashtag creators.

Follow this checklist to create your game changing hashtag:

-No spaces between words, just super squeeze all the words together.

-No punctuation needed.

-Capital letters are irrelevant, but always an option.  The same goes for numbers.

And POOF, #hashtagpower.  Hashtags.org offers a search engine to find available hashtag keywords, but it’s that easy.  No excuses anymore for boring, long winded social media ploys.  You don’t have to be a pro at writing either.  Hashtags break all the rules of conventional grammar!  Enjoy the freedom!  Create.

Hiscott also recommends using hashtags to generate a buzz for your promotion or contest you are hosting. With the holiday chaos in full swing, become the visual voice readers will be drawn to.  Create your own catchy hashtag. Be specific and simple. #powershopperswanted

Lastly, don’t forget to set your tweets to public setting, so everyone can see your fab work!

Harness the Hashtag Power: Measure your Success

Don’t forget to measure your hashtag effectiveness.  Of course, there is a simple way to analyze the effectiveness of your hashtag usage and yes, you can even put the hashtag to work for you while you do less.

Ian Cleary, CEO of Razor Social, reminds his readers that tweeting is a waste of time if you don’t have a purpose.  If it has a purpose that matters it needs to be measured.  Cleary recommends using Google analytics or LinkedIn to track your effectiveness.  Twtrland and SocialBro are helpful social media tools to generate churn rates. Cleary explains the number of people who follow you and then unfollow you is a churn rate.  A high churn rate indicates poor content; therefore, you will know immediately if your hashtag creations are working.

Building your Hashtag Followers: Follow the Leader

If they follow you then you follow them.  Though, Cleary clarifies that an audience does not mean it is the right audience. Twtrland also offers an analysis of followers.  Even more, Twtrland captures if your content is being shared.  Shared content builds and strengthens your social network.

Community Manager and Content Specialist, Sofie DeBeule at Social Media Examiner says the key to building the right audience is maintaining helpful, authentic interactions through your content.  Don’t bog your readers down with clutter.  Be helpful.  Too many hashtags and too many links with lengthy text is not helpful.

Relevant, helpful content matched with the right audience equals hashtag success.