Lunch and Learn event

At Dunning-Creating Sparks we have been converts of Social Media for quite some time. Whilst we don’t consider ourselves to be experts, in reality few practitioners can lay claim to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” guru status of 10,000 hours practice = good, however we do like to think we know what we’re talking about.

So, today we were happy to stand up and share an overview of our knowledge to not one but two business audiences where we boldly stated Social Media: It’s Not an Option Anymore!

Not ones to shirk a challenge, Julian picked up the mic and by 2 o’clock had spoken to over 120 businesses on the merits and the pitfalls of social media. First up was a breakfast seminar starting at 7.30am in GTG Training’s state of the art facility in Whiteinch.  We then moved on to the Corinthian Club in Glasgow City Centre where we presented to Glasgow Chamber of Commerce members at the first of their Lunch & Learn series of sponsored events.  Both venues were fully booked, in fact the lunch was the first ever sold out event for the Chamber who had to start late because an extra table was needed to accommodate all the eager, lunch learners.

Lunch and Learn event

Julian talked about the variety of social media tools available and emphasised the need for a social media:

• Policy
• Strategy
• Measurement criteria
• ROI demonstration

He offered the following Top Ten Policy Tips:

1. Introduce the purpose of social media
2. Be responsible for what you write
3. Be authentic
4. Consider your audience
5. Exercise good judgment
6. Understand the concept of community
7. Respect copyrights and fair use
8. Protect confidential and proprietary info
9. Bring value
10. Productivity matters

In conclusion Julian advised everyone to ensure they held tight to the traditional principles of any marketing strategy:

• Plan
• Create
• Publish
• Govern

And reminded us all that it’s not rocket science and always:

• Be interesting
• Be useful
• Be yourself

If any of this sparks your interest, whether you’re already utilising social media or just want to dip your toe in the water, feel free to get in touch as our first hour of consultancy is free and training can attract up to 80% funding from Glasgow City Council.

Here’s some of the tweets following the events:

• @Glasgow_Chamber Packed like sardines in the Langley room at the Corinthian for a successful Lunch n Learn with Julian Westaby. #socialmedia
• @JEB_BBLaw Excellent @glasgow_chamber Lunch & Learn today with Julian, Claire & Oliver of @DunningDesign. No @skelptarse required! #gocevents
• @SCQFPartnership Really good social media seminar this morning from @DunningDesign hosted by the very hospitable @GTG_Training
• @ontowork2011 Joined the world of @Twitter after attending seminar ran this morning by @DunningDesign!