Using Persuasion Tactics on Twitter

Thanks to Scott Adams the creator of Dilbert. I've become a student of persuasion.

I'm going to give you a number of ways to be more persuasive on twitter. You can be more persuasive in your tweets, your replies, retweets, pictures, profile, etc.

First, if you haven't read Scott Adams book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, get and read it.  Also buy and read Robert Cialdini's book Influence and Pre-suasion.

From these books I've come up with the acronym ASSCURL, which are Ciadini's 7 categories of persuasion. Note that his original book had 6 and his Pre-suasion book added Unity.

1. Authority
2. Scarcity
3. Social Proof
4. Consistency and Commitment
5. Unity
6. Reciprocation
7. Liking

So for each of these how do you use them in twitter?

Authority 

We look to authority for shortcuts, so you need to become an authority on something and tweet about it. Write a book. Give a talk. Teach.  

Another way to get authority is to get twitter followers. I have almost 68,000 followers on twitter and when you see something from me I have more authority than someone with 52 followers.

If you can get the twitter @verified check mark that also gives you authority. Your links and contents can give you authority. The quality of your videos and website sends a message.

Also the language you use in your tweets can also be authoritative.  

• Scientists say ...
• Many famous people..
• Many doctors...
• Sam Harris says..
• According to economists..
• Many people know
• Most teachers think...
• Your neighbors..
• Sam Harris says ...
• Nobel prize winner ...

Scarcity

People value things that are scarce.  You can use terms that say something is scarce:

• Final days..
• only 3 left
• Limited time only
• secrets

Social Proof

We tend to have more trust in things that are popular or endorsed by people we trust

• Everyone...
• No one ...
• Powerful users following you
• Having many followers

Consistency and Commitment

We tend to stick with whatever we've already chosen. Consistency is a shortcut.

People who follow you, like a tweet, add you to a list are more likely to do you a favor if asked, due to consistency.

• Ask questions that get a Yes
• Who thinks that weight loss can improve your health and make you happier
• Would you pay $5000 if it could save your life?
• $5000 program to lose 100's of pounds, if you lose the weight you'll get $4500 back

Unity

Unity is Cialdini's 7th rule of persuasion relates to family. Using family related language can help to persuade:

• Welcome to my twitter family
• I give you the same advice I'd give to my family ...
• Here is what I'd advise my children to do
• To my brothers and sisters out there
• As parent let me suggest
• We are together like a family in ...
• I need some advice from you
• find something that can unite you and your follower
• ethnicity
• location
• political beliefs

Reciprocation

In many social situations, we pay back what we received from others:

• Follow back
• Retweet for people who retweet you
• Like for Like
• Give free sample
• Help others and they are likely to help you

Liking

We are more likely to comply with requests made by people we like

• Follow people who like you
• Say positive things about people's tweets
• Like people's tweets
• People like people who are like them
• Give honest complements

For example recently I was going to tweet something negative, that I thought was funny, about Scott Adams saying something like "Your daughter is beautiful."  referring to his girlfriend. Instead I tweeted 

.@kristina_basham @ScottAdamsSays
Best couple ever!

— Alec Berg (@alecberg) October 9, 2016

.@kristina_basham .@ScottAdamsSays Would make a great #president and first lady in 2020

— Alec Berg (@alecberg) October 10, 2016

and it worked. I got likes and replies from these tweets.

So remember the acronym ASSCURL to help persuade you way to twitter success.

If you liked this blog please retweet it or comment below, because it helps motive me to share more of my knowledge.

Thanks for reading!!

Getting Unstuck

I'm stuck!

That's the first step to getting unstuck is admitting you're stuck.

I know this from problem solving and I'm a professional problem solver. I've spent over 40 years of my life solving problems so I've become pretty, pretty, pretty good at it.

One key rule of problem solving is to accept the problem.

If there's one thing you learn today it's

When you have a problem, accept it.

Okay, I've highlighted this rule for you and me.

So what am I stuck on?  I'm glad you asked.

I haven't been able to reach my next weight loss goal for the last 34 days.

Matter a fact I'm 5.2 lbs. away. My goal is to weight 165.8 and this morning I weighed 171.

I'm glad I weighed myself today. Am I depressed? No, my weight is a fact not a judgement. I tell people that the most important rule to losing weight and keeping it off (LWAKIO) is to weigh yourself everyday.

The negative response to this idea is "I'll get too depressed."  If you don't have a speedometer you'll speed and if you don't have a gas gauge, you'll run out of gas.

So the is weight gain the real problem? No. It's a result of something else, most likely too many calories, not enough exercise or too slow metabolism.

Now each of these issues has sub-problems that need to be solved.

What happened yesterday that I gained 2 pounds. Well it was Thanksgiving and my willpower disappeared pretty quickly. I had a lot of chocolate covered raisins, hot dog in a blanket and nachos with guacamole. The red wine didn't help either.

On the other hand, I filled up a bag with stuff to bring home and I left it at the party.

So what is the problem that I'm not accepting?

Maybe my current weight loss method doesn't work.  The problem appears to be willpower and not being able to control my temptations. I'm sure that there are a number of events and people which increases my poor willpower.

Some of the things that are problematic for me are:

• Pizza
• Ice Cream
• Alcohol
• Breads (Pretzels)

Alcohol is a pretty big culprit as it drops my willpower. People also are a problem as my wife has low willpower and when my kids are home it's easy to overdo it.

On the other side of the coin my exercising hasn't been as good since I've started my new job.  My walking has dropped from 1 - 2 hours to 20 minutes. 

I'm good in some ways as I don't eat candy from vending machines. 

Okay so now the plan to get unstuck. I've used a couple of strategies in the past that worked and I'll try them again.  

1. Walk at lunch for 1 hour if I'm not at my goal weight
2. Work out at least 3 days a week
3. Buy the food but save it for when I'm at my goal weight as a reward and for motivation
4. Avoid these items completely if I can get to my goal in 15 more days
5. Find substitutes for the good feeling I get from food and use them

I had the idea of having a periscope of my weight loss and take my weight each day if I don't achieve my weight goal in 15 days.

So what are you stuck at?  Maybe I can help. Leave a comment below and let's get unstuck together.

Why you Should Always Back into a Parking Spot

Arguments for backing in to a parking spot

1. At a baseball game or sporting event
1. It's pretty clear that getting out of a parking spot is difficult in a crowded parking lot and most people intuitively know to back in. Trying to back out of a spot can be very difficult when cars are blocking your path. Visibility is so limited in cars that they've included backup cameras in them
2. It's easier to get into tight spots
1. Once you learn to back in it's easier as your car can make sharper turns going backwards
2. Your side mirrors only work when backing in
3. It's safer
1. There is more danger when leaving a spot than when entering
2. Other cars backing up might not see you and vice versa
3. Coming out of your driveway there's more likely to be an obstacle while leaving than while entering
4. If you're rushing somewhere like making a train you're much better off fronting out than backing out.
5. My car was hit 2x by cars backing up and I hit a car backing up
4. It's easier to get out of the spot
1. If you have to get out in an emergency you'll be happy you backed in
5. When backing out if car's parked too close to you, you might not be able to get out as your car's front may not have enough room to swing out
6. The situation where you parked might have changed preventing backing out of spot
7. Two cars backing out at the same time can't easily see each other

Arguments against backing in

1. Carbon Monoxide (CO)
1. If you park in a garage in your house then you should front in as less CO will enter the house
2. Other drivers might get annoyed that you're backing in
3. Most drivers front in so they might not know what you're doing
4. It's harder to learn
5. You can rush backing in because you can see who you're delaying and get into an accident
6. Where you are parking might not be obvious to others and they might take your spot

Tell me your thoughts below, because I'd love to hear from you.

How to Overcome Your Fear of Dogs

You've seen the headlines.

Pit bull kills Kid

Man Attacked by Dog

Man Bites Dog

Okay that last one wasn't real.

But you're probably here because you're afraid of dogs.

I was once afraid of them but I will discuss in this post how to overcome this fear.

There are 4 steps to overcome it.

1. Get/Learn how to record TV shows
2. Buy/Record the Dog Whisperer TV series and Cesar 911
3. Get a puppy from an animal shelter and raise it
4. Read as much as you can about this topic

My journey to overcoming my fear of dogs started on a cold December day in Long Island NY.

I was out for a jog and running in the street was a white dog. I said "Where's your owner" to the dog thinking he understood English. With that the dog jumped into my arms and was shaking.

So carrying the dog I start to ring the bells of the houses to see if anyone knew who's dog it was.  No one answered their door. I guess I wouldn't answer if I saw me carrying a dog. Finally a woman who appeared to be a nanny answered the door.  

I explained the situation to her and asked if she could watch the dog while I ran about a mile back to my car and she agreed. 

So I arrived back and put the dog in my car. But know what do I do. I felt like I was on a mission to help reunite this dog with it's owner. So I called my wife and she said to bring it to a nearby vet.

So I drove to the vet and told them the story. The didn't recognize the dog but would keep it there overnight and send it to the dog shelter if no one claimed it.

I took a picture of the dog and rushed home to put up signs.

After putting up the signs I got a call from someone who thanked me for finding their dog. I don't remember exactly how, but the dog was returned to it's owner.

It was getting near my son's birthday and I thought that my experience was a sign from God that I should get him a dog for his birthday.  

to be continued.....

Below are some Periscopes of me and my dog Lola.

.@alecberg Watch on #Periscope walking my #dog https://t.co/y5Wb5s4Enr

— Alec Berg 🇺🇸 (@alecberg) November 19, 2016

.@alecberg Watch on #Periscope more dog walking https://t.co/y9AhIhXGN8

— Alec Berg 🇺🇸 (@alecberg) November 19, 2016

Job Security and IP (Intelectual Property)

Job Security is important when you have bills or 2 kids in college like I do.

There are two components to job security:

1. Keeping your current job
2. If you lose your job, being able to quickly get a new job

Job Security is a subset of what I call $ecurity which is stands for Money Security.

The goal isn't necessarily keeping your job but keeping a flow of money coming in that exceeds your expenses.

What is IP?

This is the knowledge you bring to the job. Companies that are successful are ruthless in protecting their IP.  What about people?

You have IP. All the knowledge you have is your IP. Should you share this? 

I'm not sure. If you're a manager you want to make it an incentive for people to share their knowledge. What if the employee wins the lottery, what would you do?

I as a rule share my knowledge. I document my knowledge and help people when they ask.  But should I always do this?

Some of the issues I help people with took me hours of hard work to figure out. Now someone comes along and takes 20 seconds to solve the same problem because I documented it for them. Now another thing to consider is that I get reviewed against my co-workers. If I help them I reduce my chance of getting the highest review. Matter a fact if I sabotage or don't help them I increase my odds of getting a high review.

What are your thoughts on this issue?