Free workshop for SMEs in Merseyside
Wednesday, 16th & 23rd November 2011, 9:00am - 4:30pm
Liverpool Hope University, Hope Park, Liverpool L16 9JD

This two-day workshop programme, in partnership with Lancaster University, will help SMEs develop and retain customer focus through the implementation and integration of social media tools and techniques.

The Programme:

Social media is a powerful and cost-effective means of building relationships that lead to new business. Commencing with a marketing refresher, this programme will provide tips for getting the most out of Social Media, look at the business reasons for using social media, and assist businesses to develop a social media and web based marketing strategy.  The programme will conclude with the development of an individual ‘go-to-market’ strategy to help your business innovate & grow.

These lively, interactive sessions will answer two core questions:

• How can social media make my business more competitive?
• How can I develop an integrated online and offline marketing strategy?

Benefits

• Refresh your marketing skills
• Better customer focus through social media
• Hear how other businesses like yours have used social media to become successful
• Find and attract new customers
• Reduce your marketing costs and eliminate wasted marketing expenditure
• Better understanding of customer behaviour through social media
• Sell more to existing customers

Who should attend?

Owner / managers of SMEs in Merseyside with a basic understanding of social media wishing to improve customer focus.

Who would benefit from this programme?
Eligible Merseyside SMEs with an interest in how strategic marketing & social media can lead to greater business efficiency and a competitive advantage.

Priority is given to following sectors:
Advanced Engineering, Food, Energy and Biomedical

Registration

For further details, eligiblity or to register your interest for the programme, please contact Elizabeth Underhill on 0151 291 2157 or email underhl@hope.ac.uk

FACT, in partnership with Amaze, presents the next Roy Stringer event with respected entrepreneur and UK Digital Champion, Martha Lane Fox at 3pm, 1 November at FACT*.

Lane Fox joins a panel of guests including: Professor Andy Miah, community engagement expert Patrick Fox (FACT/Arena Housing), Director of Strategy at Aurora Media John Eagan, Managing Partner at Amaze Natalie Gross, and Google’s Peter Barron. The panel will discuss how inspiring digital content can help encourage the 100,000 people in Liverpool (25% of the population) who have never been on the Internet to take their first steps online, and the role cultural and creative industries can play in introducing off liners to the amazing digital content on offer.   

The debate will be chaired by Herb Kim, CEO of Codeworks and founder of the Thinking Digital Conference.

Martha Lane Fox is the UK Digital Champion and heads up the Race Online 2012 campaign which aims to get the 8.3 million UK residents who have never used the Internet online. An inspirational figure known for her public sector and charity work, she came to prominence after setting up lastminute.com with Brent Hoberman in 1998. Lane Fox is also a non-executive director of Marks & Spencer, Channel 4 and mydeco.com.

Liverpool is in the process of recruiting of 5,000 Liverpool digital champions - local people who are willing to support their friends, neighbours and colleagues to go online for the first time and benefit from all the advantages that can bring.
Mike Stubbs, FACT Director/CEO said:

“It’s an honour and a pleasure to have Martha with us for the fourth annual Roy Stringer event. As a passionate advocate of digital technology, Martha is someone we at FACT admire very much. I am looking forward to a lively debate about the role all of us, including the cultural sector, can play in ensuring that we open up the doors to the digital world.”

Martha Lane Fox said:

“It’s great to be taking part in the discussion on how the cultural and creative community could encourage the 100,000 Liverpudlians who have never been online to take their first steps, by introducing them to inspirational digital content through the Give an Hour campaign.”

Natalie Gross, Managing Partner at Amaze, said:

“Amaze is delighted to partner with FACT for this year’s Roy Stringer event – Roy was a true digital visionary, who Amaze is immensely proud to be connected with. His passion for digital innovation remains a key part of the Amaze brand. ”

You can book your free place on the FACT website: www.fact.co.uk

Marther Lane Fox will also join Liverpool Chamber and others for a debate on closing the digital divide in society at 11am at Liverpool Innovation Park. Places are free and you can book online here.

Race Online 2012 is working with Liverpool Chamber and a growing number of local public, private and voluntary partners to support the estimated 100,000 people in the city who have never used the internet.

Together we are working to reduce the digital divide in the city by 25% by the end of June 2012.

We are aiming to do this by encouraging 5,000 people, who are online everyday, to volunteer as digital champions and help inspire 25,000 people across the city to take their first steps online.

When the clocks go back on October 29/30th we all gain an extra hour. The BBC Give an Hour national campaign will appeal to everyone to use this extra hour to help a member of their family, a friend, a neighbour, a colleague or a customer to see how the internet could transform their lives.

Please sign up as a Liverpool digital champion, become part of Go ON Liverpool, help us to close the digital divide in the City once and for all.  http://champions.go-on.co.uk/signup

Got an iPhone? Well now you can keep up to date with Liverpool Chamber wherever you are.

We have just launched a free app, built by our partners Crosby Associates, that brings our website to your pocket.

Use the app like a directory of local businesses to find the services you want when you need them. Or book onto a Chamber event whilst on the move. Plus there’s news, general info and links to all our other social networks.

We hope it will make connecting with Liverpool Chamber easier and simpler. We’ll also soon be launching an iPad and Android version of the app.

Check it out here or search the Apple App Store for ‘Liverpool Chamber’

Liverpool Chamber organising a tour to the fantastic new Media City UK at Salford Quays, next Wed 20th April from 12pm onwards.

The Chamber has hired a corporate minibus (22-seater) to take us directly to the venue so any interested delegates should let me know as soon as possible whether they wish to come along.

Places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Chamber members will be given priority, but any interested non-members are welcome to aply for a place. There is no charge to come along.

Timetable:

12:00: Minibus leaves Chamber – One Old Hall Street.

1:00: Arrival at Media City.

1:00 – 2:00ish: Tour.

3:00: Depart for return journey to Liverpool.

4:00: ETA Liverpool. 

The tour of the venue will be of particular interest to businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs in the digital, gaming and other IT-reliant sectors. Delegates wishing to discover more can visit the following links:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/creatingacity
Blog: http://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/the-latest/rss.htm

If you’d like to come along, please email Kush.Thakar@liverpoolchamber.org.uk

Liverpool Twestival is delighted to announce its 2011 charity partner is Lister Steps.

A community-based organisation, Lister Steps offers support services and childcare help to families living around Tuebrook in Liverpool. It has to generate all its own funding and is currently working to raise £10,000 to repair the portakabins, which houses the charity.

Pauline Cox, Liverpool Twestival organiser, said: “Previous Twestivals have raised money to help support clean water initiatives in the developing world. This time we wanted to focus our attention a little closer to home.

“We received a lot of nominations from local charities and support groups and it was inspiring to see how much great work is happening in Liverpool and Merseyside. Lister Steps stood out for the huge difference and impact they make to people’s lives despite their consistent efforts to simply survive, which is why Liverpool Twestival chose them for this year’s charity.”

Lister Steps spokesperson Gaynor McKnight added: “Being supported by Liverpool Twestival is wonderful news and just the uplift we need at the moment. The money, as I’m sure everyone can understand, is much needed and will be put to good use. On top of that, anything that helps raise our profile can only be a good thing too.”

Liverpool Twestival - a Twitter Festival - will be held on March 24 2011. More than 150 users of the social media site are expected to attend the event, which is now in its third year.

Twestival sponsorship is still available to companies and the organising team would be happy to receive donations of money or prizes to be raffled on the night.

To find out more, see @TwestivalLiv on Twitter, visit http://liverpool.twestival.com/ or contact @PaulineCoxy on Twitter or at Pauline@virtuallythesame.co.uk

Monday 7 to Friday 11 February 2011

Celebrate and explore the best that the geeks of Liverpool have to offer with events from digital and creative tech practitioners, pioneers and enthusiasts.

Events include:

Ignite Liverpool
Tuesday 8, 6 till 9pm @ LJMU Art & Design Academy

Enlighten us but make it quick! Ignite Liverpool returns for a fifth time as we invite you to join us for another inspirational evening of breakneck 5 minute presentations on a dizzying range of topics. Follow @igniteliv on Twitter.

Social Media Cafe Liverpool
Thursday 10, 6 till 9pm @ LJMU Art & Design Academy

We’re back with another evening of talks and discussions about social media and collaborative technology. Follow @smcliv on Twitter or keep an eye on the #smcliv tag

Social Media Social or ‘Oh, I follow you on Twitter’
Friday 11th 8.30pm till bedtime! @ Upstairs at LEAF Bold Street

So let’s take things offline with an evening of live music and conviviality for anyone who fancies putting a face to the twitter handle.

And a whole lot more besides! Visit http://bit.ly/SocialMediaLiverpool to find about more Social Media in Liverpool Week events and how you can take part.

All events are FREE, just bring enthusiasm (… and perhaps some change for a cuppa joe or tankard of ale!)

The Enterprise Europe Network North West in partnership with UK Trade & Investment North West are inviting companies to take part in a free interactive webinar, which will aim to introduce business opportunities in Ireland.

Date:  Tuesday 16th November 2010
Start Time:  09:30am
Venue: Warren Bruce Court, Trafford Park, Manchester, M17 1LB

Ireland is the UK’s 5th largest export market world-wide, with the highest number of exports being petroleum related goods and medical / pharmaceutical products. This is closely followed by specialist food and drink products.

Every man, woman, and child in Ireland spends an average of £3,607 per year on British goods, one of the highest per capita spends on British products in the world, and therefore providing many opportunities for British exporters.

Specialists from UK Trade & Investment Dublin will focus on key opportunities in the followingsectors:

• Food / drink
• Healthcare
• Advanced engineering
• Environment
• Renewable energy
• Biotechnology
• Chemicals
• Infrastructure
• ICT

Participants will be able to seek advice on particular business issues of interest.

Who should attend?

The webinar addresses representatives from North West businesses looking to develop their business in Ireland. Participants should expect to gain a better understanding of key sector opportunities; potential challenges for the future; and practical advice on how to do business in Ireland.

To register please complete the registration form and email it to eenw@business-support-solutions.co.uk or fax to 0161 875 2234 by Friday 12th November 2010.

For further details, please contact the Enterprise Europe Network team on 0161 875 2325 or email eenw@business-support-solutions.co.uk.

Chamber member AIMES Grid Services are offering discounted data storage…

Still tangled up in tape?

Secure online data back-up now from 20p per Gigabyte, per month

Backing up to tape may be the traditional method of protecting your critical business data but it can be a risky business.

Once your data is on the tapes, you’re still left with the headache of how and where to store them, how to transport them off-site and how to guarantee their security.

AIMES energy efficient data centre and private ‘cloud’ infrastructure allows us to offer highly cost effective data backup suitable for businesses of all sizes.

We offer:

• cost effective solutions for all data sizes from 500GB up to 500TB
• online data transfer via a secure encrypted connection
• backup to our ISO 27001 certified secure and resilient data centre

Don’t get wrapped up in tape when you can let the experts take care of it.

Sign up before 30th September and get 500GB in our secure storage vault for just £100 per month +VAT for 12 months

To find out more contact AIMES on:

Telephone: 0151 905 9728

Email : enquiries@aimes.net

Free Listings for Chamber members & an Exclusive Offer to Join Business Booster

The Directory of Liverpool understands that for YOU to get more business from the internet your site must be seen by more people searching for the services you provide.

Being seen depends on the major search engines recognising your web site as being both credible and valuable to its users.

The more credible your site, the higher you will feature in the search engine results. Credibility depends on being shown in local directories, the quality of information on your site and the quality of links to your site.

Two Great Ways to Get More Web Site Visitors:

Get a FREE Listing in the Directory of Liverpool

To get a boost to your site and business claim your FREE listing in the Directory of Liverpool NOW. The benefits include:

• Giving the major search engines such as Google more reasons to show your web site closer to the top when searchers are looking for companies such as yours
• Visibility of your services to more than 6,000 monthly visitors to the Directory of Liverpool site,
• Saving £75 when you use Business Booster to propel your site higher in Google Places – Google’s local listings site. Pay just £175, saving £75 on the normal price of £250.

Join Business Booster in the next 7 days

What is Local Business Booster?

Exactly what is says – a service designed to get your site listed higher in Google Places. Search for ‘Liverpool plumber’, for example, and you will see Google Places on the left hand side of the search results – it is the map and listing of 7 local businesses. The closer you can get your business to the top of that list, the more visitors you will draw to your website and business.

Business Booster is a service designed to do get your business both listed and as high as possible in the Google Places listings.

What do we do:

• Check your current listing in Google Places (or add your business if not currently listed) and ensure your business is using every opportunity to maximise its presence, using what we know of Google Places to help your site ranking.
• List your site in 24 UK business directories that are important to Google
• Use other resources at the Directory of Liverpool to boost your ranking.

Please note because Google Places is competitive we will only support One Chamber Member in each business category – as we will not compete against ourselves!

So to guarantee your inclusion in the Business Booster programme email us now at support@DirectoryofLiverpool.net, put ‘Liverpool Member’ in the subject line and we will contact you for discuss the information required.