Making the most of social media

Getting started in social media can seem like a very daunting task - I am often asked for advice or tips on how to make the best use of this valuable marketing tool. Following on from my post translating Twitter terms, here are a few pointers to help you make the best use of your social media activity to raise the profile of your business:

* Watch & listen before you “speak” - you don't have to join the conversation straight away.
* Integrate with your current website - using links to your current website is crucial if you want to use social media to drive sales - www.bit.ly and www.tinyurl.com are great space saving link tools.
* Competitions and offers - use social media to publicise special offers or run a competition for everyone that shares or retweets (RT) your post.
* Encourage and engage conversation – it doesn't cost anything to be helpful but users will remember you for it.
* Market research - social media is a great place to get up to date with your industry and find out what your competitors are up to.
* Select your tone of voice – keep it consistent with your brand. That means you can't use frequent foul language if you work for a very straight corporate company.
* Don’t be too “salesy” – communicate not broadcast. People hate to be sold to on Twitter as much as they hate it elsewhere.
* Time-saving tools – Use applications like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck etc. to save time and schedule your activity

EDP Future 50 - Women in Business

Last week the bible of Norfolk life, the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) published their Future 50 list of East Anglian entrepreneurs to watch over the next 12 months. Disappointingly only 2 women featured in the ones to watch and I felt compelled to write the letter below which was published in the EDP on Saturday 19th September:

Congratulations to the EDP business team on your excellent Future 50 project. Its fantastic to see the local media supporting local businesspeople in this way and sending out a positive message to readers in spite of the surrounding economic doom and gloom. I was however disappointed to see that only 2 enterprising women (Claire Martinsen and Kate Gaskin) made it into the list. This mirrors the pattern of last year’s Power 100 list in which I recall we were similarly sparsely represented. I’m sure that a balanced, high quality publication such as the EDP is not specifically discriminating but moreover that there are simply not enough women in business in Norfolk who are shouting about their success.

We have recently completed some research into female enterprise skills in association with the UEA and this identified that women still lack confidence in asserting and fulfilling their enterprising ambitions. As a result, a programme of training and support will be rolled out for women as part of Global Enterprise Week in November. Lets hope that after this many more women will be confident in their enterprising abilities and apply for the Future 50 in 2010.

Yours faithfully
Kate Elliott

The letter seems to have got everyone talking and I now have the ear of the EDP Business Editor which I hope to bend with my further thoughts! Watch this space...

The importance of buying local

I was privileged to be able to exhibit at the annual Buy Local celebration event held in the magnificent surroundings of Norwich's Dragon Hall last night. Membership of Buy Local is something that we are really passionate about, not just because its "in vogue", but because it makes good business sense. Buy Local is a social enterprise for independent local businesses which recognises that small business owners have a vital role to play in supporting the local economy, both as buyers and sellers. In order to qualify for membership, Active Marketing & Design has to buy from local suppliers where possible, something which we do already and are keen to do more of.
In turn Buy Local is a good place for us to promote our independent local business to other like-minded business people. The list of good reasons to Buy Local is endless, but stuff like keeping the pounds in the local economy, saving money, time and hassle, building a reputation and reducing our impact on the environment are all pretty critical.
The event had double meaning as it was held in the historic Dragon Hall which has been an integral part of local industry for centuries. In medieval times it was an important trading hall for merchants of key goods such as cloth and food products as it occupies a prominent position between the River Wensum and King Street, an important trading route. Im sure we could learn many lessons from those times before the internet and the global economy, about the importance of doing business with other local businesses.
http://www.buylocalnorfolk.org.uk
http://www.dragonhall.org