I was delighted to be asked to speak at an evening event for York Professionals this week. There were five of us each giving short sharp 15 minute talks – and mine was on LinkedIn. Before the event I researched the 39 members and speakers attending to see who was already on LinkedIn and how [...]

It costs five to fifty times more to find a new customer than sell more to your existing customers.  We’re working with a lot of clients helping them to increase sales and this is nearly always one of the best places to start.  It’s a common fault – and we’re probably guilty of it ourselves! [...]

Is the social housing sector being over cautious in not embracing social media?  Members of The Guardian’s housing network certainly think so.  In February a poll of Guardian housing network members revealed that 83 per cent do not think the housing sector is realising the full potential of social media. A month after this poll [...]

by Jon Buscall, head of Jontus Media, a digital marketing agency in Stockholm, Sweden. He hosts the weekly Online Marketing & Communications Podcast. He is also the author of an ebook and video training series Launch a Podcast and Grow Your Business. Despite the regular calls that podcasting is dead, let me assure you that [...]

Social media for Managing Partners – opportunities and threats Earlier this month, we were invited to speak at the Yorkshire branch of the global Managing Partners’ Forum. What are the issues worrying heads of professional firms?  Where do they see the opportunities in social media? The aim of the forum is to bring professionals from [...]

Recently I ran a PR and social media workshop in York for tourism businesses with Denise Howard OBE, director of Welcometraining.  All the participants were finalists in Visit York’s Tourism Awards. Entering and winning awards is a great way for businesses and organisations in any sector to achieve effective and low cost PR.  You can [...]

At the beginning of March, the Guardian released its new TV advert. We’ve since used the YouTube clip of the ad in client meetings, workshops and LinkedIn discussions to help illustrate how the media landscape is changing – and show senior professionals why social media should be integrated into business strategy at the highest level. [...]

A disaster on a school trip is every head’s worst nightmare.  You are trying to cope with anxious parents while journalists and photographers are camped outside the school gates. Every year we see national newspaper headlines about students injured or killed on school skiing trips or outdoor activities.  Incidents involving cyber bullying, inappropriate behaviour on [...]

In the last month I have been increasingly irritated with the growing number of LinkedIn invitations where the person has just used the standard invitation ‘I’d like to add you to my professional network’ in their email. I reckon in the last month I have had more than 30 of these standard requests against around [...]

By Andrew Rayment, partner, Walker Morris Just before Christmas I had the pleasure of being invited by Victoria Tomlinson of Northern Lights PR to talk at a seminar about employment issues and social media. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are hardly new, but the legal world is notoriously slow to react and is only now really [...]