On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…

We first talk about how to gain a massive following on social media. It would seem fairly easy for a superstar or celebrity to get 1 million followers, but my first guest, Brendan Kane, says anyone can do it and he shares how.

Then, as I have said many times on this show, customers no longer want to buy your product or service; they want to buy an experience. This gets raised to a new level with the holiday shopping season. Holiday Retail Index by Verizon Enterprise Solutions offers insights into consumer shopping where this year e-commerce is the norm.

Finally, Mike Mooney says our reputations have never been as fragile as they are today. He says we are in the midst of a perfect storm as today’s headlines are littered with examples of the values gap in leadership and the public is armed with phones that make us all citizen journalists. The price to be paid has never been higher, nor has the need to proactively build, manage, and protect our reputations as it is today.

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Segment 1: Brendan Kane is a business and digital strategist for Fortune 500 corporations, brands, and celebrities. Starting his career at Lakeshore Entertainment, Brendan oversaw all aspects of their interactive media strategy. He worked on 16 films that generated a worldwide gross of $685 million dollars and pioneered the first ever influencer campaign to effectively promote Lakeshore’s movies. He then went on to build applications, platforms and campaigns for celebrity clients such as Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Katie Couric, Charles Barkley, Michael Strahan, and Jason Statham. Brendan is known for creating an innovative application for Taylor Swift and Rihanna that can automatically turn any Facebook profile into a website in less than 60 seconds. He is the author of One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days.

1:30 – Generating 1 million followers seems improbable for most of us, but you say anyone can do it. How?

3:00 – How to start building a massive social media following.

8:15 – What does it cost to get a massive following in 30 days? How do you determine how much to spend?

9:45 – How to run your social media account like a celebrity.

11:00 – How to craft word-of-mouth sharing of your content online.

12:30 – What Brendan learned by being a part of Taylor Swift’s first $1 million dollar month on eCommerce.

13:15 – How important is video sharing to building followers and fans?

Segment 2: Michele Dupre is Group Vice President of Retail, Hospitality & Distribution for Verizon Enterprise Solutions.

19:45 – Why did Verizon start the Holiday Retail Index? What does it show us?

20:30 – What are the findings from this year’s Holiday Retail Index? What retail trends are we seeing?

21:45 – How do you create a unique shopping experience?

23:45 – How do you create a personal shopping experience, not only online, but also on the physical store level? Who is doing this well?

29:00 – How to use technology to connect with customers after the holiday season. Plus, what is geofencing and how are stores using it?

32:45 – How is this holiday season going to compare to previous years?

33:15 – How does Verizon help small business owners?

Segment 3: Mike Mooney has developed a trusted reputation over the last 25 years at senior-leadership posts in the fast-paced and high-profile world of motorsports. Having led numerous crisis and reputation management efforts over his career, Mike is a go-to resource for those in repair mode, but also those wanting proactive-branding and business-driving strategies. Mike’s experiences in motorsports led him to write the acclaimed book Reputation Shift – 5 High-Performance Truths for Success.

38:45 – Why we need to be more proactive, now more than ever, in how we value, manage, and build, our reputations.

40:15 – How do we protect our reputations? Are any of us really bulletproof?

44:30 – Digesting this shocking statistic (and more): 87% of executives see reputational risk as the number one strategic risk to their business; only 15% do anything about that.

46:30 – What can a business do to reduce their reputational risk? Reputational risk is never a question of if, only a matter of when. What can you do right now?

48:45 – How to use a personal instant replay strategy to foresee how your decisions will play out before you make them.

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