Last Tuesday's Ask An Ambassador post wasn't the topic I started.
I'd had a post basically fall right in my lap. Someone doing something that IMO they shouldn't have been doing. A warning to us all.
I wrote the first few paragraphs, talking about reputation management. The words were flowing, but I slammed on the keyboard brakes.
I didn't like the post.
In particular, I didn't like the tone.
Tone matters.
We're working in a flat medium. You're not looking at me and picking up visual cues as to my emotional state (yes, engineers have emotions). Unless I explicitly convey that I'm wrecked or happy, my exact emotional state isn't going to be clear. And unclear leads to misinterpretation.
If you've been following us for awhile you know rants have pretty much been kicked out of my repertoire of topics. I lean heavily to the factual (patio homes for sale, subdivision posts, new construction announcements, etc.), tutorials or advice type columns.
You're not going to get opinion pieces from me about politics, the perceived threat from the latest brokerage model, etc. Someone else can kick those beehives.
It's not what I do, and IMO kind of dangerous to write because the tone can so easily be misinterpreted. Spend a few minutes on Facebook any given day and you'll find no shortage of instances where tone has been misinterpreted and two strangers are having a keyboard knife fight.
Basically there are tests that each of my blog posts has to pass through:
1. Will it help my business?
2. Will it help someone else with their business?
3. Will it inform, educate or entertain (the public or Rainers)?
4. Is it positive?
If a post can't successfully pass those tests, it's unlikely to see the light of day.
Someone else can kick the beehives.
Until next Tuesday, just Ask An Ambassador if you need help!
Bill of Liz and Bill aka BLiz