In a Twitter chat that took place on 28 February 2012, Dell shared their tips for what they have learnt when connecting to small businesses using social media.
I have curated the tips I think you will find the most interesting and helpful here or view the slide show below.
The seminars which are a day in length will be covering:
‘Jumpstart Your Business’ with Jack Black is for Business Owners and Professionals will take place in Galway and Dublin on Thursday 16th and 17th June 2011. Tickets are priced at 1 for €127 or 2 for €197 ( if you book before 7 June 2011 on a special early bird), following which tickets will be €147 for one person and €247 for two people attending.
Interested in the Internet and the breadth of applicationsit can have in our life? Then you just have to check out the free conference the DotConf, running for a second time and hosted by the National College of Ireland in partnership with the Irish Internet Association and Silicon Republic. Thanks to sponsorship from Microsoft and Mason Hayes+Curran, the event is free to attend.
Here is a summary of some of the things you can look forward to:
Book your place to attend the dotconf here - make sure you do so soon as last time the tickets wen in less than 2 weeks!
As they did last year, they have created a great video to tell us all about the speakers and what e can expect - watch it here:
As I shared earlier this week on Twitter, now there is no excuse for any irish start up or business not to have a website with the initiative GettingBusinessOnline.ie.
Google, Blacknight, An Post and the County and City Enterprise Boards have collaborated on this initiative with an easy way for you to create your own website offering you a free domain name for 12 months and even website templates that are easy to update.
And if you already have a business, you can apply for €100 Google Adwords to help promote your business online.
It's a great initiative and they have helpful online marketing tips there already - my only problem with the site was that I tried to post into their online form to help promote the campaign - but their form would not accept my URL and to date the person I contacted in Google has not replied to help me help them.
Don't let that stop you making the most of the free service to help grow your business though.
Are you interested in craft and design and perhaps thinking of attending a course or even starting up your own craft business?
Then check out Designer Dublin which is part funded by the Craft Council of Ireland’s, Dublin City Enterprise Board, Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Enterprise Board and Fingal County Enterprise Board.
A couple of events that you might be interested in include:
And if you are just interested in learning how to make your own jewellry, throw your own clay pots or create your own greetings cards, check out all the details on their events listing.
If you are in a sales role in Ireland then have you checked out the National Sales Forum from hosted by the Sunday Business Post on the 10 May in Croke Park. The event will be covering the folowing three themes:
I am delighted to have been asked to speak and will be addressing the fact that word of mouth referrals are no longer sufficient for us to win in an increasingly competitive marketplace. I will be covering:
The event is being chaired by Anton Savage, Managing Director of The Communications Clinic and the agenda is as follows:
9.00 - Jerry Kennelly of Tweak.com and will be discussing segregating prospects, focussing on the low hanging fruit, Understanding the customer’s needs better than any competitor, creating a unique, customised long term value proposition for long term value and using channel sales to create scale fast.
Find out more about the 2nd National Sales Forum online here and if you book your ticket make sure that you say hello at the event won't you?
While early bird pricing has already closed, the Sunday Business Post conference team have advised that if you mention you saw the details of the conference on my site then you can still avail of the early bird price of €99 - book your place direct through Miriam McEvitt on mmcevitt@sbpost.ie or on 01 602 6000. This offer closes on Thursday 28 April 2011.
What is one of the factors that will bring growth back into the Irish economy? Innovation - and that is the subject of an event taking place on 6 April in county Kildare, organised by the National University of Ireland Maynooth Commercialisation Department.
Connect 2011 is a free networking event,connecting Irish companies with research expertise at NUI Maynooth and creating networking opportunities within the business community.
At Connect 2011 you will find out how you can partner with researchers from NUI Maynooth to develop new products and help you grow your business and will discover how agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and local enterprise boards can help fund your business.
I had the opportunity to meet with John Scanlan the Director of NUI Maynooth Commercialisation department and we discuss what you can expect to discover at the event - listen to the podcast here:
Here is the agenda for the event:
Register to attend the event by completing the online booking form here: http://bgn.bz/nuimregconnect
Remember this event is relevant for you no matter your size of business and it is gree to attend.
Are you a female entrepreneur and wondering how you can use social media and social networking to attract more leads to your business?
If you are based in the Fingal area of North County Dublin, then why not join me on the 12 April 2011 when I will be speaking at the Fingal Women in Business network about how to boost your lead generation and bottom line profits in 2011 using free, popular and low cost online marketing channels.
Here is the agenda:6.30pm: Registration and open networking7pm: Structured Networking Exercises and Pitch Opportunities7.20pm: 'Lets Get Social' In this session I will guide you on how to get started using social networking and social media in your business8pm: Q and A Session8.20pm: Informal networking9pm: Event closeFor more information contact Fingal County Enterprise Board WIB Network Manager Eve Bulman, email: wib@fingalceb.ie or contact Eve by phone on 087 649 7036. Check out the full details of the programme on the Fingal CEB website.Here is an email that I had to share with you as I know many people who read this blog and my Twitter account are considering starting up a new business or know someone in their own network who is starting a business.
The email came from John Egan who is the Managing Director of a company called Archipelago which he has formed with 11 other altruistically minded young entrepreneurs. They were recently covered in BizStartup.ie.
He comments:
About 6 months ago we moved into a cooperative space on Pearse street with some of the other companies we regularly work with and named it Junction Studios.
It's generally communications orientated, with Graphic Designers, PR, Marketing, Web animation etc but the one aspect we don't have and we'd love to get in is a social media start up.
It's a very cooperative space and we tend to work on a lot of projects together.
The price per desk is (an all inclusive) 70 euros including reception, internet, phones, rates, boardroom and electricity.
So if you are a social media start up and interested in exploring this opportunity of sharing a co-operative work-space in Dublin, then get in contact with John at john@archipelago.ie - and tell him you read about the opportunity here.
SmartStart.ie is a new programme seeking high potential technology companies to support them in their early stages of start up and growth. They are seeking applications at the moment for companies to join them for the programme starting in Drogheda and will be rolling out programmes in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the north East of England this year.
Registrations for the first programme which is connecting local companies to local investors and then growing globally are invited through to 25 March 2011.
