SOHO Solo West Cork

Calvin December 1st, 2008

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An impressive collection of international thought leaders in the field of green technology and renewable energy gathered in Cork last week. Their destination, the annual IT@Cork Technology in Business conference, their focus… Green IT: how organisations can use technology intelligently to reduce their environmental impact and improve profits.

There were some excellent speakers at the event – truly world class – and collectively they delivered a sobering and compelling message of spiralling carbon emissions and the pressing imperative for all of us to take action now to reduce our energy consumption at home and at work.

Much of what was said at the conference focussed on using technology like smart meters, intelligent monitoring devices and clever software to reduce large organisation’s energy usage and flatten the electricity demand curve, making supply more efficient. But there were speakers who examined the ways technology can help us to work smarter, to do our jobs more efficiently and effectively.

There’s no doubt that technology is changing the workplace irrevocably. The way online tools facilitate the exchange of information and mass collaboration is having a profound effect on the way businesses operate around the world, and consequently on the way employees do their work — or perhaps it’s the other way around.

One of the most interesting presentations at the conference was by Pierre-Olivier Carles, co-founder of Stonfield InWorld, a French company that specialises in helping businesses to create virtual world solutions to their business problems.

“Virtual Worlds represent a tremendous opportunity to reduce companies’ carbon footprints,” explained Pierre-Olivier. “They will change the way we work, reducing dramatically the volume of business trips, which will not only have a huge positive impact on costs but also on a company’s carbon footprint.”

Virtual worlds are exactly that: three dimensional computer generated facsimiles of the real world. In them you can meet with other people, and interact in ways that are broadly parallel with the way you’d interact in real life. The most well known of these virtual world is the Linden Lab developed Second Life.

In his presentation Pierre-Olivier delivered some compelling examples of how implementing virtual worlds for online training, business meetings and even online retail can deliver significant real world benefits for businesses, reducing their costs, improving working conditions for employees and of course reducing their environmental impact.

For example, a pilot virtual classroom project for the Pyrénées Gascogne division of French bank Crédit Agricole realised a saving of €400,000 per annum in travel costs, improved training efficiency, and saved employees a lot of valuable time and additional stress. A residual benefit of the programme is that Crédit Agricole is effectively future-proofing it’s workforce – preparing them today to use the technology that will be commonplace tomorrow.

The day when virtual worlds are seen as ubiquitous mainstream business tools, when they become a routine component of everyday working life, is still some way off. But with pressure growing on businesses to reduce both their costs and their carbon footprint that day could well be closer than we think.

Tags: IT@Cork, ITC08, Pierre-Olivier Carles, Second Life, Social Media, Virtual Worlds

• IT@Cork , Small Business , Social Media , internet
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Calvin November 4th, 2008

04 November 2008, Co. Cork, Ireland: Small businesses can compete with big brands online regardless of geography and size, and SOHO Solo, a small business networking group in South West Ireland, is helping its members to do just that….

Online advertising is growing apace despite the global economic downturn, with estimates suggesting that online advertising spend in the UK will reach a massive £3.4 billion by the end of 2008 (emarketer.com) and it continues to grow at a time when spending on all other advertising channels is contracting sharply.

The transition from traditional to digital media is well underway, and Big brands are certainly waking up to the potential of online marketing… but the nature of big business means that change is usually a slow and laborious process.

Their ponderous transition from the old to the new, coupled with the comparatively low barriers to entry in the online marketplace, means that smaller businesses have a great opportunity to engage online and steal a march on their much larger competition, regardless of budget or geographical constraints.

In South West Ireland a small business networking group called SOHO Solo (www.sohosoloireland.com) is encouraging its member-base of solo entrepreneurs and home-based businesses to explore online marketing channels: introducing them to the potential of

business blogging (www.sohosolowestcork.com), microblogging services like Twitter (www.twitter.com/sohosolo), search engine marketing and of course social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Calvin Jones, a West Cork based SOHO Solo member and co-author of “Understanding Digital Marketing”, is spearheading the initiative, and believes that there’s never been a better time for small businesses to engage with both consumers and with their peers online.

“Digital technology is changing the way people do things at a fundamental level – in business and life in general. When was the last time you picked up the golden pages to look up a supplier? These days you’re far more likely to use a search engine to find what you’re looking for.

“The way people look for the stuff they need has changed, and businesses of all sizes need to adapt to that change if they want to keep reaching their customers and generating sales,” he said.

Calvin maintains that small businesses are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the burgeoning opportunity of this digital migration – if they act quickly and play to their strengths. “The smaller a business is, the less encumbered it tends to be by policies, procedures and corporate culture. In a larger business adapting to change means shifting the collective consciousness… when you have a head-count of one, making the same transition is a comparative breeze.”

Ireland already has a thriving online business community, but at the moment, Calvin says, those businesses tend to be a little technology centric. These are very much the early adopters of the business community – but that’s changing as more and more businesses realise that their customers are looking for their products and services online, and that to engage with them simply having a static corporate website is no longer enough.

“Through SOHO Solo we’re encouraging small businesses to participate through the blog, introducing them to the networking benefits of Twitter, LinkedIn and other online communities, and generally encouraging them to join the online conversation,” said Calvin. “This is the future of business – and the time to engage is now!”

ENDS

For more information on the SOHO Solo blog and Social Media Campaign contact Calvin Jones:

Skype: calvin141170

AIM/YahooIM: calvin141170

GTalk/MSN/E-mail: calvin141170@gmail.com

For more general information on the SOHO Solo Network please contact Jennifer Berton on the SOHO Solo Helpdesk:

Email: jberton@corkbic.com
Tel: +353 21 2307003
Fax +353 21 2307020
NSC Campus, Mahon, Cork
www.nsc-campus.com
www.corkbic.com

Tags: internet, online marketing, Press Release, Social Media

• Press Release
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Calvin October 3rd, 2008

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One of the best things about being a SOHO Solo member is all the great events that I get to attend throughout the year. From the monthly SOHO Solo West Cork meetings to the fortnightly Cork City meetings – all with great speakers – to discounted and/or free entry to events hosted by IT@Cork, Cork BIC and other partner organisations. There are also fantastic one-off events, including conferences, seminars and training tailored specifically to the Small Office Home Office (SOHO) worker and solo entrepreneur.

In order to give our members a convenient “One Stop Shop” to access all SOHO Solo event information, we’ve set up a public SOHO Solo calendar on Google Calendar. If you use Google Calendar to organise your schedule, you can simply add the SOHO Solo calendar to your account, and hey-presto – all of the SOHO Solo events will appear in your calendar automatically.

For those of you who don’t use Google Calendar we’ve also published an interactive version of the calendar on the blog, giving you one convenient place to check out what’s on. If you’re new to Google Calendar, you may want to take the Google Calendar tour and give it a whirl….

Tags: calendar, Events, Social Media, tools

• Events , Social Media , tools
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Calvin September 26th, 2008

Catherine Wall of IT@Cork sent an e-mail earlier this week offering SOHO Solo Members free entry to the event “Media and Marketing in the Digital Age” with prominent Irish Blogger, columnist and digital media commentator Damien Mulley:

Where: Webworks, Albert Quay, Cork
When: Thursday October 16 at 11am
Registration: To register please email admin@itcork.ie or call 021 2307011 (don’t forget to mention you’re a SOHO Solo Member).

Should be a great event – here’s an excerpt from Catherine’s e-mail to whet your appetite:

Damien Mulley will go through tips and techniques on how to deal with the media in 2008 and then explain how companies can market themselves online. Can Bebo, Facebook and LinkedIn actually get you business?  Damien will explain how they can.

Damien Mulley organises the Irish Blog Awards which has now been running for 3 years. He teaches business blogging, PR skills and Online Marketing to private businesses, Universities and has given public training classes on business blogging to WIT, Wicklow County Enterprise Board, Galway Skillnet and the Irish Computer Society.  He is a trained technical writer, former technology columnist for the Sunday Tribune and holds a diploma in Law from UCC.

So register now, and I’ll see you there.

If you’re not a SOHO Solo member yet you can still attend the event at a cost of €30 – or why not take this opportunity to join and attend the event for free?

Our thanks to IT@Cork for extending this invitation to SOHO Solo members.

Tags: Events, IT@Cork, Membership, Social Media

• Events , IT@Cork , Membership , Social Media , Soho Solo
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Calvin September 24th, 2008

Last week’s SOHO Solo meeting was an open discussion on how Social Media Can Help Your Small Business hosted by yours truly. Despite some very rusty presentation and facilitation skills on my part (an occupational hazard of spending long hours tapping away at the keyboard), we covered some interesting stuff – and it was great to hear SOHO Solo’s sharing their own experiences of Social Media with one another.

As promised, I’m posting an outline of the “Social Media Rules of Engagement” taken from the social media chapter of my book “Understanding Digital Marketing”. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and every form of social media is subtly different, but if you follow the guidelines below you’ll soon find your feet.

Ready to engage? Enjoy:

THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Social media offers a wealth of opportunities for consumer engagement and building brand awareness, but in such an open and dynamic space it’s critical to consider what you’re doing carefully. Social media is consumer driven, and the very characteristics that make it such an enticing proposition for marketers – the interconnected nature of online consumers, and the staggering speed at which information traverses the network – can just as easily backfire.

The ‘rules’ of social media are really about applying a bit of common sense to what are essentially human relationships. The key thing to remember is that this is social media – people are going online to interact and exchange information and content with similar, like minded people. They’re unlikely to be interested in your latest sales pitch, and they’re certainly not interested in promotional hype. They want interesting, fun, informative, quirky, addictive… whatever turns them on. When it comes to social media, you’re not just sending out a message, your inviting a response, and what you get might not be quite what you’re expecting. You need a plan to engage in social media marketing, but you also need to be flexible and respond to the community.

• Draw on what you already know: you already have a wealth of knowledge about your customers – who they are, what they like to do, where they hang-out online. Okay, so one of the main reasons you’re getting involved in social media is to get to know them a little better – but the point is you’re not going into this blind. Use that knowledge: apply what you already know about your customers, your business and your brand to your social media strategy. As you learn more, refine what you’re doing accordingly.
• Don’t jump in unprepared: have a clear plan before you start – know who you’re trying to engage with and what you want to achieve. Define ways to gauge and measure your success, with frequent milestones to help keep you on-track. But remember to be flexible, and modify your plan as necessary in response to community feedback.
• Look, listen and learn: before you engage in social media marketing spend some time ‘lurking’ (hanging around without contributing). Familiarising yourself with the different types of social media sites that you plan to target. Go and use the sites, read the blogs… immerse yourself in the media. Look, listen and learn. Just like in real life, every online community is different. Familiarise yourself with the various nuances before you dive in.
• Be open, honest and authentic: nowhere is the term ‘full disclosure’ more appropriate than in social media. Don’t go online pretending to be an independent punter extolling the virtues of your brand. You will get found out, and when you do your company will go ‘viral’ for all the wrong reasons. There are some high profile examples of companies getting this spectacularly wrong, with disastrous results. Never pretend to be someone or something you’re not.
• Be relevant, interesting and entertaining: everything you do should add value to the community, as well as moving you towards your business goals. Be helpful, be constructive be interesting and entertaining – join the conversation, offer valuable, authoritative and considered advice. Make a real effort to engage with the community on their terms, and you’ll usually find them more than happy to engage with you in return.
• Don’t push out a spammy message: don’t join social media sites just to submit a tonne of links and push information about your own products, or flood the community with posts on why your company is the best thing since sliced bread. It smacks of spam, and ads nothing to the conversation. At best the community will ignore you… at worst, well, we’re back to the negative viral effect again.
• Respect ‘rules’: if the site you’re frequenting has policies, guidelines and rules, read them, and abide by them.
• Respect people: always be respectful to your fellow community members. That doesn’t mean you always have to agree with them; healthy debate is good in any community. When you do disagree, though, always be polite and respect other people. They have as much right to their opinion as you do to yours. Don’t get personal.
• Respond to feedback: if users give you feedback, that’s invaluable. Let them know that you appreciate it, that you’re interested in what they have to say. Be responsive, and show them how you’ve used that feedback constructively.

Know a few more rules you feel should be on this list? Feel free to share them in the comments :-)!

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Tags: Meetings, Presentations, Resources, Social Media

• Meetings , Presentations , Resources , Social Media , Soho Solo , Web
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Calvin September 16th, 2008

Quick post to mention that although things have been a bit slow over the past week or two (other work pressures, and the fact that at the moment I’m all on my lonesome writing here… sniff :-() they should pick up some momentum over the coming weeks as we start encouraging more SOHO Solo members to sign up and start contributing.

The whole point of this blog is as a resource for SOHO Solo’s – members and non-members – but for members it also offers an opportunity to get their feet wet in the blogosphere, and to get some guidance and support on posting here before they set up their own blog. Once they’ve tried commenting and posting to the blog, we’ll also be encouraging members to try other social media resources like Twitter, LinkedIn and others to see how they might apply to their particular business.

SOHO Solo West Cork Group on LinkedIn

As more members contribute articles about their SOHO experiences and share their expertise the blog should evolve into a valuable repository of information for Small Office / Home Office workers not just in South West Ireland, but around the world.

So, things might be plodding along at the moment, but stick around… because it’s about to get interesting!

Tags: Blogging, Social Media, Soho Solo, Twitter

• Blogging , Soho Solo , Twitter , internet
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Calvin August 5th, 2008

Just installed Twitter Updater — a Wordpress plugin that automatically posts an update to Twitter whenever a new blog post is published to the blog. Now, if you follow SOHOSolo on Twitter you’ll receive a twitter update with a link back to the blog whenever there’s a new post here.

For those of you who don’t know what Twitter is, I’ll be dedicating a post soon to how small businesses can use this short-messaging social media tool to engage productively with an online community that includes customers, peers and thought leaders in your industry.

It’s a great tool for keeping up-to-date with the latest developments on- and off-line, for seeking advice and sounding out opinion.

You might be sceptical about the benefits of a medium that restricts you to posts of 140 characters or less… but the real value of Twitter isn’t so much in the individual posts, but more in the networking, the collective awareness and sense of community that develops over time. Put your preconceptions aside, give Twitter a try and before long you’ll find it invaluable.

Tags: internet, Networking, Social Media, Soho Solo, tools, Twitter

• Networking , Social Media , Soho Solo , Twitter
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