Here is a terrific event taking place on 25 April 2012 - a free event about cloud computing - The National Conference on Cloud Computing and Commerce.

The conference speakers include Paul Rellis (Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland), Colm Lyon (CEO, Realex), Mark Kellett (CEO, Magnet Networks) and Sean O’Sullivan (SOS Ventures).

The event is free to attend and takes place from 2-6pm at Dublin City University and is supported by Techspectations and the new Irish Centre for Cloud Computing and Commerce both located at DCU Business School, sponsored by Microsoft Ireland.

Register to participate here http://www.nc4.ie/register-free

I only wish I could attend but I am in Cyprus speaking about content marketing and social media to B2B companies.

If you are not sure how Cloud Computing is relevant to your business, I encourage you to clear your diaries or have a team member attend.

If you are not able to attend follow the Twitter Hash tage #NC4

I just received an email about an event taking place this month and hosted by Wicklow County Enterprise Board.

As the details are not on their website here is a summary as I think it could be of interest to some of our readers:

Title: "Developing an Online Strategy for your Business"

Venue: Parkview Hotel in Newtownmountkennedy

Date: Thursday 19th April 2012

Time: 2pm until 5pm 

Cost: FREE

Book your place: online booking for the event is here

Topics:

• How to get your website mobile enabled and how to engage with your market through mobile. 
• Running effective email marketing campaigns
• Website traffic conversion tips.

So if you are in County Wicklow and are looking for some tips to help you with your digital marketing you might want to check out this free event.

MORE FREE TRAINING PROGRAMMES

Remember if you can not attend this event, you can check out my series of FREE content rich webinars taking place in 2012 - our next event is on 18 April 2012 and I will be covering essential tips for using Google Plus in your business.

How can you move visitors through your online properties?

Here is an example from Tesco Ireland where they are hosting a competition for Easter that takes people from their Facebook Page to their online magazine and to different pages of their website on an Easter egg hunt.

It's a great idea that you could modify for your business - remember to integrate it with your ezine, your instore promotions, your traditional media and your direct mail shots.

If you are a retailer you could reference your competition on your till receipts and if you are a restaurant or case you could promote the competition on your menu - you never know people just may enter when on your premises using their smart phone!

And if you run a competition like this while you won't get more fans of your Facebook Page through like gating, you will build awareness of your Page and if it's engaging people may become a fan.

Furthermore, if you are using a competition to build your data base of prospects, the fact that people enter on your website means that you are not limiting your audience to those who are on Facebook.

One recommendation I would make versus the Tesco Easter competition is whether you need to ask people their age - it's simpler and less obtrusive if you ask people to confirm they are over the minimum age for entry.

How could you adapt this idea for your business? Do leave your feedback on our Facebook Page.

Source: ContentPlus

Being billed as the first campaign using Pinterest by a brand (which it's not) here is a campaign that ran in Israel recently for Kotex.

The campaign that ran on ‘Women’s Inspiration Day’, identified 50 ‘influential’ women on Pinterest and sent them a personalised gift based on the content of their pin boards (a little like the KLM example where they gave gifts to passengers based on their Twitter profiles).

From the 50 gifts that were sent out, the video below claims that almost 100% of the recipients posted about their gift, creating 2284 interactions and 694,853 impressions.

Pinterest was chosen as a platform for the campaign, created by Israeli agency Smoyz, as a social network where women express their style and design inspirations.

What innovative ways have you used Pinterest in your business?

Are you an entrepreneur in the County Donegal area? Then make sure you check out the terrific week log programme of events for Enterprising Donegal Business Week 2012.

Events include topics from innivation and ideas through to managing your personal wellbeing.

I am delighted to have been invited to participate in a digital marketing workshop taking place on Wednesday 7 March 2012 between 8- 11 am.

The session is called "Digital Marketing De-mystified" and it will be a step by step guide to attracting more customers to your small business using digital marketing.

There will also be a panel discussion and case studies from local businesses. You can register to attend the workshop and other events taking place during Enterprising Donegal Business Week here.

You can see the itinerary for Enterprising Donegal Business Week below or download the PDF here.

Here is a quick overview of the state of Pinterest as at February 2012 in an infographic created by DigSandbox and designed by Lemon.ly.

Find more markeitng infogrpahics and Pinterest resources at my Pinterest account.

So you keep hearing the Pinterest is just for 'girls'? Don't believe all you read - we need to 'dig into the numbers' and as I wrote about earlier this month, the majority of visitors to Pinterest in the UK are infact male according to Google Ad Planner (you need to be logged into your Google account to see the metrics).

In Ireland the number of users at the moment is so small that Google Ad Planner does not register them.

Visual.ly have created an infographic to show the data as at December 2011.

Are you on Pinterest? If so you'll find me there too!

Here is a helpful infographic from Hubspot with tips for your website home page if you are planning a redesign.

Some additional considerations would be:

- easy access to your contact details and if you are a hotel you would also want to have your phone number prominently on your website in text format (not as an image) and with your international dialing code

- links to your key social media channles that will be relevant to your target audience

- a quick navigation to your busines blog

- don't forget information you are required to legally post on your website which will differ in differeent markets.

What else do you consider is important?

If you are a non profit I am sure you are looking for new ways to raise awareness for your organisation and attract volunteers or donations.

Here is a great example of the Anthony Nolan association doing that in the UK.

Over on their Facebook Page they posted this great image of a 'collection box' but designed as a sofa.

They comment that:

• Right now, there’s £42.9m in loose change down the back of the nation’s sofas
• Just think how many lives we could save with that!
• Don’t let your change disappear behind your cushions.

Pop it in a 'Sofa of Change' collection box instead – and help us provide more lifesaving transplants.

I recall the Anthony Nolan association from when I lived in the UK. Their goal is to save the lives of people with blood cancer by matching them to people willing to donate their blood stem cells for lifesaving transplants.

Apparently only 30% of suitable doners can be found within a family. In 2009/10 Anthony Nolan found 937 matches.

You will find the organisation active through social media on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and their blog.

Learn more about their cause through this video - again a great execution explaining how you can become a stem cell donor.

 

 

If you are in the UK and want to get involved as a stem cell donor contact Anthony Nolan at http://www.anthonynolan.org