Member Article

Businesses can learn how to grow for free

Businesses are being given the opportunity to learn more about social media and how it can help them grow for free. Peterlee Business Park Group has organised the event to give companies, particularly SMEs, an insight into the power of platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn and how they can help boost their profile to a local and national audience.

It is being held at East Durham College in Peterlee on Friday, September 19, and is open to businesses from all sectors and of all sizes.

The event, part of an ongoing programme of activity organised by Peterlee Business Park Group, will include presentations from Valda Goodfellow, MD of fine dining catering equipment specialist Goodfellow and Goodfellow, who will talk about the impact Twitter has had on her business, and Leanne English, Director of communications firm LEC Consultancy who will outline a simple five-step approach to social media.

Valda Goodfellow said: “Social media is one of the most powerful tools for any growing business and the simple fact is, if you don’t embrace it and use it to your advantage you will be left behind.

“Many businesses find the prospect of using social media a daunting one but the benefits are enormous. My company is proof of that - as a direct result of the activity we’ve undertaken on Twitter we’ve won over £2m of new business. That’s massive and is clear demonstration that if used in the right way, social media can be as good as any marketing or advertising campaign.”

In the UK, there are now more than 15 million Twitter users, as many as 33 million people log onto a Facebook account at least once a month and over 10 million people use LinkedIn.

Statistics from 2014 also show that 65 per cent of all corporate website traffic came via LinkedIn.

Leanne English said: “I’ve been working with a number of businesses recently who are keen to use the social networks but aren’t sure where to start or what they should be sharing. Equally, there are companies out there who just don’t believe they’d get any benefit from having a presence on the likes of Twitter or Facebook.

“This event is to show them that’s not the case. Using social media is far less complex and time consuming than they might think and it’s also one of the most cost effective ways of winning new business and raising your profile to a global audience.”

Attendees will also hear from Square One Law, who as well as jointly sponsoring the event with Apollo Studio Academy, will advise businesses on some of the pitfalls they need to be aware of when using social media.

To find out more about the event, or to book your place, email info@peterleebusiness.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Leanne English .