Way back in August I posted an article on the website about the LinkedIn and Facebook updates, it makes interesting reading but is also thought provoking.  I was talking with a client earlier on today who was saying that they were annoyed by these assumptions, when I said that of course most of us enjoy the benefits of these networks free of charge and their revenue models are based mostly on advertising at the moment she realised that there was more to this than meets the eye.

Whilst I’m not saying it’s a great idea to use people’s data like this, I do think we need to appreciate the benefits we get from having access to such vast networks without a financial cost being taken into account.

Workshops Coming Up

We have six more workshops coming up, all focusing on how to use the major social networks more effectively to help grow your business. All are half day workshops taking place at either Basepoint in Weymouth or Basepoint in Exeter with just 6 places per workshop and you can book by following the links next to each one.

• Business Blogging For Beginners – 8th February (Exeter) and 6th March in Weymouth
• LinkedIn Made Easy: the workshop – 15th February (Exeter) and 13th March in Weymouth
• Fitting Facebook into Your Business – 22nd February (Exeter) and 20th March in Weymouth
• Broadcasting Powerful Messages with Twitter – 29th February (Exeter) and 27th March in Weymouth

Latest News from the Social Web

• I was presenting at the Clinks Sustainable Funding Roadshow yesterday along with the amazing Tamara Esses and I put together a blog post for the event. The presentation was called Hey You! What’s in it for me? and it was about engaging with users in the charity sector.

Events Coming Up

• The World in the Palm of Your Hand – SMS and Mobile Communications – I’m going to be presenting a keynote speech at this conference on the 2nd March
• Effective Business Networking with Facebook – 29th March at BXC, Kingston Maurward - Facebook is more than just a social network and for some businesses it can provide fantastic exposure to the audiences they need to engage with.  I’ll be giving attendees an intro into effective business networking techniques you can apply to Facebook.

Our Favourite Links:

This month I’d like to recommend Andy Lopata’s blog at: http://www.lopata.co.uk/blog  I’ve been getting his newsletters since last year and they never fail to have some useful hint, tip or observation that makes me stop and think.  His blog is equally thought provoking and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

This workshop given to the Clinks Sustainable Funding Roadshow on 1st February explores how using a more strategic approach will enable them to engage more effectively with more audience groups with a view to identifying the best way forward to help with their income generation strategies.

Hysterectomy Association

The Hysterectomy Association is a social enterprise that was originally created in 1995 as a website for a Masters Degree in Information Science, it has only ever been found online.  It has always been self sustaining through it’s income generation model of providing membership, information and products specifically for it’s market sector across multiple marketplaces.  It also uses advertising as a revenue generator.

It has a three step approach

1. provide useful information on the website and support through the forums free of charge
2. encourage visitors to receive a free hysterectomy booklet
3. send daily emails once per day for 15 days with hints and tips

This approach works because it builds trust and authority on the part of the website visitors.  The ability to engage with both the site and other users means that a need is managed effectively and as a result trust is built which results in increased sales through the various channels.

Channels

• Hysterectomy Association Shop
• Online bookstores ie Amazon - supply direct
• Online bookstores ie Barnes and Noble – supply via Lulu
• Apple iStore and eBook stores such as Kindle Store
• Google Adsense – advertising revenue

Social Media and Accounts

We keep it simple, just a couple of accounts and the use of social share buttons on the website.

• Hysterectomy Blog – latest news, information, stories and research
• Facebook Page
• Twitter Account – @HysterectomyUK
• Twitter Account – @LindaPH
• Social Share Buttons 

Mowgli Foundation

Uses social media slightly differently, they have their own internal social network on their website as well as running a LinkedIn group, a slideshare account, a Flickr account, various Twitter accounts and a Facebook page

• Post regular news updates and event information through their blog – focusing on other peoples needs
• LinkedIn Group – The Mowgli Foundation
• Twitter Accounts @MowgliTweets is the main one
• Facebook Page – Facebook.com/MowgliFoundation
• Slideshare Account for presentations and pdf documents they want to share on the networks and in their blog posts
• Flickr helps to capture the images of the events that they run, these are then embedded on their website and shared on Facebook and Twitter
• They have a Delicious social bookmarking account where they can share their group bookmarks between themselves and others
• Finally, they have a Mowgli Foundation YouTube account which allows them to share videos they create and videos they like with their visitors

All of these accounts for both the Hysterectomy Association and the Mowgli Foundation use other minor accounts on other networks as administrative accounts feeding information to the various networks, holding specific types of media content that aren’t covered by the main accounts or for monitoring brand awareness and influence.

Other useful links:

• Crowdfunding UK - http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/
• Funding Circle - http://www.fundingcircle.com/l
• Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/
• Please fund us - http://www.pleasefund.us/
• Crowd Cube - http://www.crowdcube.com/
• Sponsume - http://www.sponsume.com/
• Buzzbnk - https://www.facebook.com/Buzzbnk
• Civilised Money - https://www.facebook.com/CivilisedMoney
• Soloco - http://www.soloco.co.uk/
• We fund - http://www.wefund.com/

Workshops Coming Up

We have six more workshops coming up, all focusing on how to use the major social networks more effectively to help grow your business. All are half day workshops taking place at either Basepoint in Weymouth or Basepoint in Exeter with just 6 places per workshop and you can book by following the links next to each one.

• Fitting Facebook into Your Business – 10th January (Weymouth) and 22nd February (Exeter)
• Broadcasting Powerful Messages with Twitter – 17th January (Weymouth) and 29th February (Exeter)
• Business Blogging For Beginners – 8th February (Exeter)
• LinkedIn Made Easy: the workshop – 15th February (Exeter)

Latest News from the Social Web

• How to create a Tasty brand with Delicious Links
• LinkedIn adds POLLS to Groups
• WordPress – We love you and your updates – latest updates news

Events Coming Up

• Clinks Sustainable Funding Roadshow - Exeter, 1st February 2012
• Social Media for Business at The Hub – Basepoint in Exeter, 16th January 2012

Our Favourite Links:

This month I’d like to recommend all the ladies amongst us who are in business and it’s the Seed Network for women, started by Lynn Franks after the publication of her excellent business book for women called the Seed Handbook: The feminine way to create business.  You can find the network online at: http://www.seednetworkingforwomen.com/

WordPress 3.3.0 made some major changes to the way that the admin side of the site functioned in particular, including fly out hover menus, the new tool bar (see the top of the screen), the single media drag and drop uploader.  Helpful tips that show the new features and how to use them have been integrated and there was also an update for the iPad and other tablets.

If you are a business based around Exeter and would like to come along please get in touch with them at: http://www.basepoint.co.uk/exeter-centre.htm.

We’ll also be introducing attendees to our programme of four workshops for businesses:

• Business Blogging for Beginners
• LinkedIn Made Easy
• Fitting Facebook into your Business
• Broadingcasting Powerful Messages with Twitter

This is an area which is often overlooked in the day to day pressures of running a voluntary and community service organisation, not least by those that are smaller; but is one that will become increasingly important for funding and for funders to see.

If you would like to make a booking to come along to the Roadshow and perhaps to my session as well then you can do so at: http://clinkssouthwestroadshow.eventbrite.co.uk

Don’t forget, if there’s anything you’d particularly like to see, then why not let us know by sending an email to linda@internet-mentor.co.uk. We have lots of great content and some surprises planned for the New Year too.

Need a Late Christmas Present? Then why not consider a copy of either LinkedIn Made Easy for that social networking fan you know or a copy of Linda’s new novel, Woman on the Edge of Reality – perfect for women that love reading.

Latest News from the Social Web

• How to turn company status updates on in LinkedIn
• Creating helpful and descriptive headlines on LinkedIn – updated

Workshops Coming Up

We have six more workshops coming up, all focusing on how to use the major social networks more effectively to help grow your business. All are half day workshops taking place at either Basepoint in Weymouth or Basepoint in Exeter with just 6 places per workshop and you can book by following the links next to each one.

• Business Blogging For Beginners – 8th February (Exeter)
• Fitting Facebook into Your Business – 10th January (Weymouth) and 22nd February (Exeter)
• Broadcasting Powerful Messages with Twitter – 17th January (Weymouth) and 29th February (Exeter)
• LinkedIn Made Easy: the workshop – 15th February (Exeter)

Our Favourite Links:

This is a new section for our newsletter and showcases some of our favourite links around the web where you can find fantastic information, expertise and help just when you need it most. This week it has to be the brand new networking website Business Networking which will be featuring the content from some of the UK’s top networkers such as Penny Power, Andy Lopata, Andy Bounds and Rob Brown to name but a few.

Unfortunately what most people do is to leave their job title in their headline and there is nothing LESS likely to attract attention than something that doesn’t say anything because I have no idea what the company is that you work for unless it happens to be a major global brand and even then I may think that you won’t be the person I need to connect with because you probably aren’t going to be interested in little old me!

However, you do have the option to change it and change it you should.This is a bit like the mine profile you might find on Twitter so you need to make it engaging, interesting and absolutely about WHO you are, not WHAT you are.  In fact, if you can make it easier for people to know how you will help them, so much the better.  The alternative, is to do as I do and focus on your skills, abilities and areas of interest.

My headline/baby bio used to read “Social Entrepreneur, Internet Mentor, Speaker, Writer, Diva, Blogger & Founder of The Hysterectomy Association”. I’m not entirely sure that it wasn’t the DIVA that got the attention, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised.

I changed it recently to “Author of Linkedin Made Easy, Social Entrepreneur, Social Media Strategist, Speaker & Hysterectomy Association Founder” which is more in line with my own personal goals and objectives; in other words I’m looking to expand on my writing (and yes I’m just finishing off my first novel) and I want to do more professional speaking too.

1. To edit your profile, click on Profile in the top navigation bar
2. This defaults to the edit pane
3. Click on the little ‘edit’ button next to the headline and make your changes in the box marked ‘Professional Headline’.  Don’t forget to hit SAVE and you’re done
4. If you are stuck for something to say, why not have a look at what others in your industry say in theirs!

For those you who are interested, yes I did originally write this post on my personal blog which you can find at Woman on the Edge of Reality