Small Business Seminar – How Entrepreneurs can use social media

I am very eager to share with you my ideas. This being my first post, I would love your input on how I am doing. One thing is certain; I am laying it all out with an open and receptive spirit.

In my journey to helping companies, large and small,better grasp all the opportunities that social media offers, I gave a seminar at the YWCA last month to a group of 23 businesswomen. They were mainly entrepreneurs who were eager to know more about social media. What it is and how they can use it in their business endeavours.

The fact that female entrepreneurs have such motivation to expand their digital footprint with social media accurately reflects the latest figures that women outnumber men in social media, as Mashable article reports  Women Rule the Social Web

I am positive and convinced that social media can be used by companies of all sizes, not only in the area of marketing, Public relations, but also recruitment and sales.  A holistic approach to social media is crucial, especially to a small business as all of the decision process is easily reached and, usually, all business functions are performed by a small number of staff or sometimes only one person

I advised this wonderful group of hard working women, as I would a corporation of a few thousand people: Start listening to conversations online, open accounts on twitter, Facebook and linkedin and get the feel of how they like it.

I also advised building a social media calendar as Adam Vincenzini advises on his post Social media time management in 2010 (Part 1: “The 5 S’s”) .  Plan your monthly and daily activities.

It is crucial to plan social media initiatives, to make sure that you respect a routine that will keep you grounded and efficient in the social media space.

Most importantly, I strongly recommend setting up a social media program. I will talk more on that on a future post.

Like the internet at its early stages, social media gives a voice and a tremendous opportunity to build relationships. It is people-to-people; I am stealing the term from Scott Gould in his post Times are Changing, Teams are Changing

As a conclusion, I am thrilled I was able to introduce and demystify, if a little bit, social media for these fabulous entrepreneurs.  Their energy and desire to be present and participate in the conversation is palpable.  I hope they transmit this raw enthusiasm to some of the Chief Marketing and Executive Officers and indeed with other managers of this world.

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