Sunday Business Post Twitter Article
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A n ambitious mentoring in- itiative for wo- men aims to help young en- trepreneurs build viable ventures by learn- ing from successful business veterans. Going for Growth involves a series of roundtable discus- sions led by established female entrepreneurs who have first- hand experience of managing high-growth businesses. The idea is that participants have the opportunity to learn important lessons from these ‘lead entrepreneurs’, who give their time voluntarily. Mary McKenna, managing director of Tour America, is one of ten lead entrepreneurs taking part in the next Going for Growth cycle. ‘‘I am passionate about this because, when I was starting out with my business, I wish I had had role models and peo- ple to talk to,’’ she said. ‘‘I will give four days next year to work with a group of eight people.To take part, their businesses will need to be trad- ing for at least two years. The meetings will be informal roundtable meetings. We will brainstorm and throw ideas out there.’’ McKenna established Tour America 16 years ago to pro- vide holidays in North Ameri- ca to the Irish market. The company has since di- versified, launching Tour Afri- ca and Cruise Holidays. It has revenues of e20 million and employs 50 people at offices on Dublin’s Abbey Street and Patrick’s Street in Cork. Having begun her career in the travel industry in her early twenties as a duty manager with Club Air, McKenna be- lieves on-the-ground experi- ence in your chosen sector is a huge benefit when setting up a business. She also worked on the agency side of the travel busi- ness in marketing and office management roles with Amer- ican Holidays. ‘‘When I look back, I was very raw when I started out with my own business. I didn’t know too much, but I had an idea and I did my market re- search,’’ said McKenna. ‘‘I had no money, so I brought Club Travel’s Liam Lonergan on board as a silent partner. Liam owned Club Air at the time and I told him I was starting a business and he said he’d give me the money I needed. ‘‘As it turned out, I didn’t need the money and it is impor- tant to be aware that some- times you can start a business without cash. With share- holders, I would say to start- ups: ‘know how to go about va- luing your business, know about figures and learn about how shareholding works.’ ‘‘That is really important. Market intelligence is also hu- gely important, especially if you are in the retail business. You need to get your prices right for the consumer.’’ Going for Growth is funded by the European Social Fund, Enterprise Ireland and the De- partment of Justice & Equality. For more information, log on to www.goingforgrowth.com. Mentoring move to aid women entrepreneurs OUT ON YOUR OWN Discussions aim to help women learn the skills needed to succeed Elaine O’Regan ‘‘I have read a lot of books on business over the years and I think it’s important to continue to educate yourself all the time. ‘‘My top three include Dra- gons’ Den – Success from Pitch to Profit by Richard Farleigh. ‘‘This book gives great exam- ples of many start-up busi- nesses and also highlights where people do not prepare enough and how that can hinder their business. ‘‘Emotional Intelligence by David Goleman is another fa- vourite – I believe the most important ingredient in starting any business is emotional in- telligence. ‘‘I would also recommend The Naked Leader by David Taylor. It is a fantastic read – again with the theme of emotional intelli- gence running throughout.’’ Mary McKenna’s top reads This year’s National Wo- men’s Enterprise Day (NWED) will be marked with a two-day event in Portlaoi- se’s Heritage Hotel on November 16 and 17. Organised by the County and City Enterprise Boards, NWED will have a half-day conference programme, supper and informal net- working on November 16 and full-day conference and lunch on November 17. Speakers will include: & Lisa Myers from the Wig Clinic in Cork; & Birgitta Curtin of Clare’s Burren Smokehouse; & Elena Brennan of Cavan’s Elena Brennan Jewellery; & Anotherfriend.com’s Gra ´inne Barry from Limerick city. The NWED delegate fee is e100. For more, log on to www.nwed.ie. Women’s Enterprise Day In the second part of this new series on using social media, we examine how Twitter can help your business Twitter is a micro-blogging service you can use to communicate with customers by exchanging short and frequent messages. These messages are called ‘tweets’ and are composed of 140 characters or fewer. With more than 100 million users, Twitter presents an opportunity for companies to keep up to date with developments in their competitors’ activities and to interact with customers. Twitter has also just announced the launch of an analytics tool, which will be of great benefit to business users. Setting up a Twitter account is very easy. To get started, go to http:// twitter.com, click the sign up button and enter your details. The shorter the username you choose the better. Remember you are always restricted to just 140 characters. Followers Once you have created your account, you can start building your profile by following people and companies. Define your Twitter strategy by finding and following the Twitter content that is best aligned with your business and online marketing objectives. Follow the key influencers in your industry, your competition, your business partners, your customers, potential contacts and sales leads. Once you opt to follow a particular Twitter user, they will usually do the same in return. Tweeting By tweeting a person or company, you can increase the number of people your profile is visible to. Place the ‘@’ sign before the person’s username to post them a public message such as @socialmedia_ie. When you tweet someone, you are making yourself visible to a wider community and you could potentially gather followers. A direct message (DM) is a private message sent via Twitter to one of your followers. You can only send a direct message to your followers and it is the only way to have a private conversation on Twitter as tweets can be viewed by anyone. Re-tweeting (RT) is when you repost other people’s content to your Twitter network of followers. This is a great way to enhance your reputation by associating yourself with relevant content and information. By re-tweeting other users’ content, they are likely to return the favour, communicating your tweets to a larger community. Hashtags A hashtag or ‘#’ is a really useful Twitter tool, which is used to categorise key words or topics in a tweet. The hashtag symbol is placed before the keyword – for example #SocialMedia. By clicking on a hashtagged word, you can see all other tweets in that conversation. The hashtag ensures you are following and engaging in the right conversations. Twitter tools There are a number of free tools that make Twitter more user-friendly, helping you to spot opportunities and minimise the time you spend on Twitter. These tools allow you to measure the impact of your tweets and other social media updates, monitor who is talking about you and manage your social media activity. The five tools we recommend are Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Pluggio, Socialoomph and Twitterfall. Tips 1. Integrate your marketing efforts Blend your Twitter account with traditional media and other social media sites to make your company visible to more people interacting online. 2. Be interesting It is important to make your tweets exciting and to post photographs and videos to keep your followers interested. If your tweets are boring, there is a risk of losing key followers. 3. Engage communities It is important to listen to the Twitter community so you know about online comments on your brand. This will enable you to engage effectively in conversations. 4. Don’t spam Spammers don’t survive long on Twitter as they don’t build followers. Those that do follow them tend to change their mind pretty quickly. Spam on Twitter usually involves a company tweeting constantly to promote its brand. While companies can use Twitter to promote their brands, they should not do so all the time. 5. Avoid poor grammar and spelling In order to gain as many followers as possible, businesses need to ensure that they write in the correct manner. Twitter is not like sending a text, so you should spell each word correctly and not use abbreviations. Conor Lynch is a social media strategist and founder of SocialMedia.ie, a Dublin- based firm that advises businesses nationwide. For more information, log on to www.socialmedia.ie Social media for start-ups Tapping into Twitter to boost your business Spirit of entrepreneurship in Mayo Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) is ex- pecting a substantial turn- out at an entrepreneurial event it is hosting tomorrow evening as part of Mayo Ideas Week. Spirit of Entrepreneurship will take place on GMIT’s campus, showcasing pro- ducts and services from start-ups based in the in- stitute’s Innovation in Busi- ness Centres (IiBC). Speakers will include en- trepreneur Sean Gallagher and Ciaran Crean, co-foun- der of micksgarage.ie. This is the fifth year GMIT has hosted Spirit of Entrepre- neurship. ‘‘We want to get people thinking about setting up their own business or de- veloping their existing busi- ness further. This event will outline the funding sources and supports available, while successful entrepre- neurs who have been through it all will tell their own stories,’’ said Maria Staunton, manager IiBC, GMIT. To book a place at this event, e-mail iibccastlebar @gmit.ie or call 094- 9043198 Free training for SME owners The Small Firms Association (SFA) has launched a new management training initia- tive for SMEs. Speaking at the launch of the Business Bytes training series, SFA director Patricia Callan said the events would take place on the second Wednesday evening of each month at a number of venues. The first event will be held at SFA offices on Dublin’s Baggot Street. It will be hosted by Leanne Pa- paioannou, managing di- rector of Chilli Pepper Marketing, and will focus on customer retention. Callan said the Business Bytes training events would be free to attend. ‘‘The two factors that often discourage owner-managers from engaging in training are time and money, which is why these events are entirely free of charge and are operated in a two-hour slot outside of key business hours,’’ she said. For more info, log on to www.sfa.ie Swords to get pop-up bank A pop-up bank will open temporarily as part of Fingal Enterprise Week later this month. The pop-up bank – the brainchild of Fingal County Enterprise Board – will open from noon to 6pm on September 28, at the Europa Academy in Swords, Co Dublin. The aim of the initiative will be to offer small businesses and entrepreneurs advice on loans, grants, venture capital funds and Business Expansion Scheme invest- ments. It will involve collaboration between state support agencies, financial institu- tions and BES investment companies. For more info, log on to www.fingalenterpriseweek.ie OUT ON YOUR OWN BRIEFS Mary McKenna, managing director, Tour America Conor Lynch n22 THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST SEPTEMBER 18 2011
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Transcript of Sunday Business Post Twitter Article
A n ambit iousmentoring in-itiative for wo-men aims tohelp young en-t r e p r e n eu r s
build viable ventures by learn-ing from successful businessveterans.Going forGrowth involves a
series of roundtable discus-sions led by established femaleentrepreneurs who have first-hand experience of managinghigh-growthbusinesses.The idea is that participants
have the opportunity to learnimportant lessons from these‘lead entrepreneurs’, who givetheir time voluntarily.Mary McKenna, managing
director of Tour America, isone of ten lead entrepreneurstaking part in the next Goingfor Growth cycle.‘‘I am passionate about this
because, when I was startingout with my business, I wish Ihad had role models and peo-ple to talk to,’’ she said.‘‘I will give four days next
year to work with a group ofeight people.To take part, theirbusinesses will need to be trad-ing for at least two years. Themeetings will be informalroundtable meetings.We willbrainstorm and throw ideasout there.’’McKenna established Tour
America 16 years ago to pro-vide holidays in North Ameri-ca to the Irish market.The company has since di-
versified, launching Tour Afri-ca and Cruise Holidays. It has
revenues of e20 million andemploys 50 people at officeson Dublin’s Abbey Street andPatrick’s Street in Cork.Having begun her career in
the travel industry in her earlytwenties as a duty managerwith Club Air, McKenna be-lieves on-the-ground experi-ence in your chosen sector is ahuge benefit when setting up abusiness.She also worked on the
agency side of the travel busi-ness in marketing and officemanagement roles with Amer-ican Holidays.‘‘When I look back, I was
very raw when I started outwith my own business. I didn’tknow too much, but I had anidea and I did my market re-search,’’ saidMcKenna.‘‘I had no money, so I
brought Club Travel’s LiamLonergan on board as a silentpartner. Liam owned Club Airat the time and I told him Iwasstarting a business and he saidhe’d give me the money Ineeded.‘‘As it turned out, I didn’t
need themoneyand it is impor-tant to be aware that some-times you can start a businesswithout cash. With share-
holders, I would say to start-ups: ‘know how to go about va-luing your business, knowabout figures and learn abouthow shareholding works.’‘‘That is really important.
Market intelligence is also hu-gely important, especially ifyou are in the retail business.You need to get your pricesright for the consumer.’’
Going for Growth is fundedby the European Social Fund,Enterprise Ireland and theDe-partmentof Justice &Equality.
For more information, log onto www.goingforgrowth.com.
Mentoring move to aidwomen entrepreneurs
OUTONYOUROWN
Discussions aim to helpwomen learn the skillsneeded to succeed
ElaineO’Regan
‘‘I have read a lot of books onbusiness over the years and Ithink it’s important to continueto educate yourself all the time.‘‘My top three include Dra-
gons’ Den – Success from Pitchto Profit by Richard Farleigh.‘‘This book gives great exam-
ples of many start-up busi-nesses and also highlightswhere people do not prepareenough and how that can hindertheir business.‘‘Emotional Intelligence by
David Goleman is another fa-vourite – I believe the most
important ingredient in startingany business is emotional in-telligence.‘‘I would also recommend The
Naked Leader by David Taylor. Itis a fantastic read – again withthe theme of emotional intelli-gence running throughout.’’
Mary McKenna’s top reads
This year’s National Wo-men’s Enterprise Day(NWED) will be marked witha two-day event in Portlaoi-se’s Heritage Hotel onNovember 16 and 17.Organised by the County
and City Enterprise Boards,NWED will have a half-dayconference programme,supper and informal net-working on November 16and full-day conference andlunch on November 17.Speakers will include:& Lisa Myers from the
Wig Clinic in Cork;& Birgitta Curtin of
Clare’s Burren Smokehouse;& Elena Brennan of
Cavan’s Elena BrennanJewellery;& Anotherfriend.com’s
Grainne Barry from Limerickcity.
The NWED delegatefee is e100. For more,log on to www.nwed.ie.
Women’sEnterpriseDay
In the secondpart of this newseries on usingsocial media,we examine howTwitter can helpyour business
Twitter is a micro-bloggingservice you can use tocommunicate withcustomers by exchangingshort and frequentmessages. These messagesare called ‘tweets’ and arecomposed of 140 charactersor fewer.With more than 100million users, Twitterpresents an opportunity forcompanies to keep up todate with developments intheir competitors’ activitiesand to interact withcustomers.Twitter has also justannounced the launch of ananalytics tool, which will beof great benefit to businessusers.Setting up a Twitteraccount is very easy. To getstarted, go to http://twitter.com, click the signup button and enter yourdetails. The shorter theusername you choose thebetter. Remember you arealways restricted to just 140characters.
FollowersOnce you have created youraccount, you can startbuilding your profile byfollowing people andcompanies.
Define your Twitterstrategy by finding andfollowing the Twittercontent that is best alignedwith your business andonline marketingobjectives.Follow the keyinfluencers in yourindustry, your competition,your business partners,your customers, potentialcontacts and sales leads.Once you opt to follow aparticular Twitter user,they will usually do thesame in return.
TweetingBy tweeting a person orcompany, you can increasethe number of people yourprofile is visible to. Placethe ‘@’ sign before theperson’s username to postthem a public message suchas @socialmedia_ie.When you tweet someone,you are making yourselfvisible to a widercommunity and you couldpotentially gather followers.A direct message (DM) isa private message sent viaTwitter to one of yourfollowers. You can onlysend a direct message toyour followers and it is theonly way to have a privateconversation on Twitter as
tweets can be viewed byanyone.Re-tweeting (RT) is whenyou repost other people’scontent to your Twitternetwork of followers. This isa great way to enhance yourreputation by associatingyourself with relevantcontent and information. Byre-tweeting other users’content, they are likely toreturn the favour,communicating your tweetsto a larger community.
HashtagsA hashtag or ‘#’ is a reallyuseful Twitter tool, which isused to categorise keywords or topics in a tweet.The hashtag symbol isplaced before the keyword –for example #SocialMedia.By clicking on a hashtaggedword, you can see all othertweets in that conversation.The hashtag ensures youare following and engagingin the right conversations.
Twitter toolsThere are a number of freetools that make Twittermore user-friendly, helpingyou to spot opportunitiesand minimise the time youspend on Twitter.These tools allow you tomeasure the impact of yourtweets and other socialmedia updates, monitorwho is talking about youand manage your socialmedia activity. The fivetools we recommend areHootsuite, Tweetdeck,Pluggio, Socialoomph andTwitterfall.
Tips1. Integrate your marketingeffortsBlend your Twitteraccount with traditional
media and other socialmedia sites to make yourcompany visible to morepeople interacting online.
2. Be interestingIt is important to makeyour tweets exciting and topost photographs andvideos to keep yourfollowers interested. If yourtweets are boring, there is arisk of losing key followers.
3. Engage communitiesIt is important to listen tothe Twitter community soyou know about onlinecomments on your brand.This will enable you toengage effectively inconversations.
4. Don’t spamSpammers don’t survivelong on Twitter as theydon’t build followers. Thosethat do follow them tend tochange their mind prettyquickly. Spam on Twitterusually involves a companytweeting constantly topromote its brand. Whilecompanies can use Twitterto promote their brands,they should not do so all thetime.
5. Avoid poor grammar andspellingIn order to gain as manyfollowers as possible,businesses need to ensurethat they write in thecorrect manner. Twitter isnot like sending a text, soyou should spell each wordcorrectly and not useabbreviations.
Conor Lynch is a socialmedia strategist and founderof SocialMedia.ie, a Dublin-based firm that advisesbusinesses nationwide. Formore information, log on towww.socialmedia.ie
Social media for start-ups
Tapping into Twitter toboost your business
Spirit ofentrepreneurship inMayoGalway-Mayo Institute ofTechnology (GMIT) is ex-pecting a substantial turn-out at an entrepreneurialevent it is hosting tomorrowevening as part of MayoIdeas Week.Spirit of Entrepreneurshipwill take place on GMIT’scampus, showcasing pro-ducts and services fromstart-ups based in the in-stitute’s Innovation in Busi-ness Centres (IiBC).Speakers will include en-trepreneur Sean Gallagherand Ciaran Crean, co-foun-der of micksgarage.ie. Thisis the fifth year GMIT hashosted Spirit of Entrepre-neurship.‘‘We want to get peoplethinking about setting uptheir own business or de-veloping their existing busi-ness further. This event willoutline the funding sourcesand supports available,while successful entrepre-neurs who have beenthrough it all will tell theirown stories,’’ said MariaStaunton, manager IiBC,GMIT.To book a place at this
event, e-mail iibccastlebar
@gmit.ie or call 094-
9043198
Free training forSME ownersThe Small Firms Association(SFA) has launched a newmanagement training initia-tive for SMEs.Speaking at the launch ofthe Business Bytes trainingseries, SFA director PatriciaCallan said the eventswould take place on the
second Wednesday eveningof each month at a numberof venues.The first event will be heldat SFA offices on Dublin’sBaggot Street. It will behosted by Leanne Pa-paioannou, managing di-rector of Chilli PepperMarketing, and will focuson customer retention.Callan said the BusinessBytes training events wouldbe free to attend.‘‘The two factors that oftendiscourage owner-managersfrom engaging in trainingare time and money, whichis why these events areentirely free of charge andare operated in a two-hourslot outside of key businesshours,’’ she said.For more info, log on to
www.sfa.ie
Swords to getpop-up bankA pop-up bank will opentemporarily as part of FingalEnterprise Week later thismonth.The pop-up bank – thebrainchild of Fingal CountyEnterprise Board – will openfrom noon to 6pm onSeptember 28, at theEuropa Academy in Swords,Co Dublin.The aim of the initiative willbe to offer small businessesand entrepreneurs adviceon loans, grants, venturecapital funds and BusinessExpansion Scheme invest-ments.It will involve collaborationbetween state supportagencies, financial institu-tions and BES investmentcompanies.
For more info, log on to
www.fingalenterpriseweek.ie
OUT ON YOUR OWNBRIEFS
Mary McKenna, managing director, Tour America
ConorLynch
n22THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST
SEPTEMBER 18 2011
