Making the most of Crowdfunding

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Are you interested in how to make crowdfunding work for you – many businesses would say you should be!

Make crowdfunding work for youA lot of businesses have found it difficult to get funding from banks – which has always been the way it’s been done.  Increasingly, businesses are beginning to look at crowdfunding as a viable alternative.  Originally used mainly by charities to fund small projects, crowdfunding has developed fast.  There are now many different platforms, all offering slightly different packages.

For many, this may appear daunting.  When you’re looking for funding, you need confidence that you’re going down the right route.  A new website – CRUCIAL Crowdfunding – is being launched at the end of May which aims to make crowdfunding simple, by showing you how to make the most of the many opportunities available.

One of our sister companies, Third Sector East in conjunction with Barwell Accountants are putting on a workshop to help people through the process.  If you’re considering growing, or needing investment at any time in the near future, come along to this FREE workshop where we’ll look at:

  • which type of crowdfunding is best for you – debt or equity, donation or reward
  • how to choose which of the many different platforms around is most suitable for your project
  • planning your critical pre-campaign period so you are able to make the most of the campaign itself
  • managing the campaign itself so you are best able to secure success

The workshop takes place on Wednesday 7th June, 2pm till 4pm, at the KLIC building in South Lynn.  Places are free but limited, so you need to book to reserve your place – go here to book.

Get more e-shot opens…

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Not only are we on the receiving end of countless e-shots, we have to admit to sending out our fair share for ourselves and clients.  There is, of course, a complex science behind successful email campaigns.  One of those key variables is the subject line – if it doesn’t grab you immediately, you’re not going to click it open, which is what it’s all about.

We tend to open a lot of e-shots anyway, as we’re naturally inquisitive and are always looking for new angles.  When we were told that this one included 144 catchy email subject lines guaranteed to stand out in a crowded in-box, of course we gave them an open!

We’re interested in what you think, though, as, to be honest, we’re not as impressed as we hoped.  A useful starting point, perhaps, but we think we could do better.  Keep an eye on your in-box…

 

Celebrate all things Indie – and Vote for us!

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punk-flierNot often do small independents get nominated in world-wide events, so little ol’ Social e-Ready are extremely proud to have been nominated in the 2nd Teen Clash Indie Awards, celebrating the energy, creativity and vibrancy of the diy indie sector across the globe.

It’s all part of the Punk 4 Mental Health event, coming up in London at the end of March.  This is raising awareness and much needed funds to challenge the stigma surrounding mental health – in the 40 years since punk hit the streets, too many people have suffered, paying a heavy price for society’s intolerance and ignorance.

The whole event is being co-ordinated by Kathy di Tondo, whose sister Linda battled bipolar disorder and depression her entire life.  Read more here.

The Voting

We’re in the Indie Company of the Year category – to vote, email meetingjoestrummer@gmail.com and mention Social e-Ready as your vote in the Company category.

You haven’t got long – voting closes on Friday 17th February at midnight – so get voting now!!

There are many more artists nominated though, so don’t waste your email, vote in as many categories as you can.  Check this Facebook link for more details.

punk-art-indie-picDates for your Diary

The #Punk4MentalHealth event is spread over several days, starting with workshops, debates, galleries on March 26 – 28.  The 29th March sees a Night of Bands at the famous – or infamous – Dublin Castle in Camden.  The awards forms part of a further Night of Bands at the UnderDog Gallery on 31st March.

Updates to follow…

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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masato-beanies-xmasOur fab festive photo comes from the Masato Homeless Support 2017 calendar – it’s been a success and is now sold out!

Social e-Ready has worked with a number of other more local charities, helping develop their corporate partnership offerings, and we see Masato’s initiative as an excellent example of a very progressive corporate social responsibility offering. It ticks all the boxes by delivering meaningful benefits to all three parties: the individuals in need, the charities working at the sharp end as well as the corporate business partner themselves.

How It Works: For many of their range of beanies and duffel bags, you buy one and Masato give one to their homeless charity partner closest to where you live. Further donations are made on a wider range of items – see the full list here. Check out theMasato clothing range here, and go follow and support the Masato Beanies twitter account here. Also, follow their Days Like Ours blog here.

Do you want to extend this “Season of Goodwill” into next year and beyond? Get in touch if you would like to discuss setting up a corporate responsibility scheme.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.

Are you a pub, agency or give tips?

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Good news for pubs.  There’s a whole new raft of domain names that have just been released, which will help a range of businesses who are associated with agency, design, solutions, style, tech or tips – they’re all available, plus pro, tech, pub and also blog.

For just £29.99 plus VAT for 12 months, you can make your business – or blog – stand out just that little bit more.  And we all know that every little helps.  Go here for more details.

#ElyHour: what we did…

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This week we were pleased to be asked to co-host #ElyHour and give some #socialmedia input.  We decided to have a little play with a new product, Adobe Spark, to give our ideas a bit of pzazz  – or is it pizazz?  Here’s the link to our little videos. 

Our aim was to give an insight into some of the shortcuts which make using Twitter so easy.  If you’re interested in going deeper into some of the Dark Arts, a useful start point is this article which handily summarises 93 free Twitter apps, complete with links.

If we’ve been asked too many difficult questions, we’ll post answers here when we’ve found them!

 

Making the most of #KLHour

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We’ve had a bit of an influx of new people to #KLHour recently – our local Twitter #hour here in King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Tuesdays from 8.  Here are a few tips to help people make the most of the hour…

The Basics

Use #KLHour in your tweets to get them noticed.  It was once called #KingsLynnHour but that took up too many characters.  Although it’s nominally called an hour, it usually isn’t.  It’s often slow to get going in the summer, and it rarely finishes on the dot at 9.  This is Norfolk, after all.

twitter logoBe Social

Of course you’re here to sell your business, but here’s an interesting fact from Asda: they do 10 non-commercial tweets for every salesy one.  Basic principle is that people do business with people they like – and trust.  So be sociable, and don’t expect immediate results because people need to get to know you.  It’s social media.

Don’t Be Shy

A few of us in the #Hour try to keep an eye open, particularly for new people, and try to include you in conversations.  When it’s busy, though, the timeline is whizzing past and we don’t always spot people, so don’t be afraid to jump into the conversations.  You’ll soon make connections, and we’re quite friendly, honest!

ReTweets

RTs fuel the reach of your messages.  They dramatically expand the number of people who can see a message.  One of the key aims you will have in #KLHour is to achieve as wide a reach as possible, so you’ll want other people to RT your messages.  One key driver in achieving this is reciprocity – if you’re RTing them, they’re more likely to RT you.  Not always, of course!

Reach: what it is

It’s defined as the ‘potential number of people who can see your message’.  If you have 100 followers, and I have 500 and I RT your message, the potential reach for that tweet is 600.  Of course not everyone sees every message, which is why it’s ‘potential’.  The reach of the #KLHour hashtag varies week on week.  One recent week during the summer, which wasn’t so busy, achieved a weekly potential reach of 44,000 – more than the circulation of the Lynn News.  And we know – and you will soon find out – that a lot more people watch #KLHour than actually join in, so it is an effective way of spreading your message to local people.

Measure your own impact

Twitter Analytics tells you your own reach.  Click on your profile, choose Analytics, and then Tweets, and you’ll see how many people have had the opportunity to see each tweet, plus the number of interactions you’ve had.

Key message

It’s a social thing, so it’s got to be fun, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be commercial as well.  It’s a balance, and some weeks tend to be more ‘banterful’, some more serious.  It’s up to all of us to make it work, so join in, RT to your heart’s content, and watch your reach mushroom.

Any other tips I’ve missed out?  Do let me know…