Advice on use of Twitter for your business

Communicating in 140 characters, to many who do not use Twitter, is quite a limited and foreign concept, but it does offer a very unique way to communicate with both your existing customers and potential new ones, as well as you finding out what your competition is doing. The world of Twitter is becoming more and more important for businesses especially those run by young people.

1. Be active. Twitter can be a fantastic asset provided you are an active participant. It is essential that you give your followers a reason to check your feed every day and see what has developed for your business.

2. Incorporate #’s into your tweets. Hash-tags can be used as something in common for your business and your audience to re-tweet and keep the conversation going. The more people who use the tags in their tweets and re-tweets, the more it trends and by extension, the more people see it. You can also use a currently trending hash-tag to insert yourself into the conversation, provided it is smartly done and relevant to your business, people will respond. This is fantastic for getting your name and brand out there.

3. Use visual media. Pictures and videos increase the response rate and the likelihood of your tweet getting a response via a reply, re-tweet, favourite or all of the above. Some kind of imagery is far more likely to not only catch the eye of a twitter user, but also gain their attention enough for them to actually read what you are tweeting.

4. Seek out similar accounts to your own. By following Twitter accounts that are run by other people in your industry and those of your clients, will create additional awareness for your own account if they already have an established following of people with shared interests. By extension, if any of these people decide to support you by re-tweeting your tweets they are seen by everyone that follows them.

5. Brand your account. Use your company logo as your profile picture; customise your background and theme to further advertise your brand. You should also include a small bio about your company and link to the website in your profile.

6. Increase cross-traffic. Place a link to your twitter account on your website, blog, other online sites and even your email signature to you get as much visibility for it in as many places as you can. Do not be frightened to direct tweet someone after all you never know – you might get business from it, the more people that see it the better.

7. Give people a reason to follow you. Twitter exclusive promotions will make all your existing followers happy to be following you in the first place, and providing the promotion is relevant to other people they know, they will advertise the promotion for you via re-tweets, telling them they should follow you to take advantage of it.

8. Have a Follow Friday at least once a month. The #FF is a great way for you to not only promote those that you work with but also follow yourself this can not only gain you new followers it can get you further noticed in Thank You’s and re-tweets

Twitter can be a very powerful tool for any business, provided it is used correctly. Keep your account active and interact with people as much as you can to not only increase the visibility of what your are doing and what you have to offer, but also the business' reputation as a company that interacts with people, this makes you human

Hull Youth Enterprise Awards 2015

Thanks to support from The John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank and Hull City Council this year, we are able to organise awards to recognise the enterprise activity that takes place in Hull alongside the award for Hull’s Young Entrepreneur Year 2015.

The Awards will be for:

1 Most enterprising school in Hull 2015 

2 The business that has done the most to promote an enterprise culture in the City 2015

3 The Sheila Waudby Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 

4 Most Enterprising Teacher 2015
5 Most Enterprising Student Award 2015
6 Best Newcomer School to Enterprise Education

Special Awards

John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Award
Lee Creamer Youth Enterprise Leadership Award
Jack Brignall Youth Enterprise Award

The deadline for the completed full entry forms will be 1st October 2015, although we are encouraging early nominations, and judging will be completed by 10th October 2015. The shortlisted candidates will be invited to receive their award at the Celebration Event we hold in Global Entrepreneurship Week which will be held at the Guildhall on Friday 20th November.

Councillor Rosie Nicola, Portfolio Holder for Learning and Skills, said:

"I look forward to welcoming the nominations for these awards from across the city as we look to develop Hull's entrepreneurial culture amongst our young people.

"The Council in partnership with the Youth Enterprise Bank is committed to supporting our enterprising young people and we are more than aware that the young people of this city are our future, and we want them to move forward in life equipped with the right skills to build successful careers."

Nick Sangwin, MD of the Sangwin Group, added:

"It was a great honour last year to be announced as the recipient of the Lee Creamer Youth Enterprise Leadership Award and I am pleased that this year the awards will go ahead thanks to the support of sponsors.

"There is no doubt that Hull as a city has real commitment through the Youth Enterprise Partnership to develop the enterprising skills of young people. With the right support and encouragement Hull's young people are truly enterprising, and whilst not all will pursue an entrepreneurial career in the future, the majority of them will most certainly use their skills to help impact their outlook on life and in the workplace."

Last year Katie Norman of Lab Rascals was honoured with The Sheila Waudby Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, she said:

"For two years my science party and science workshop business has had support from the Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership and its many partners. I am very proud to be associated with them, especially during Global Entrepreneurship Week and as a member of the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank management committee.

"I was really pleased to accept the title of Young Entrepreneur Year 2014 from the inspirational entrepreneur Claire Young and Karl Turner MP and I look forward to helping identify the winner this year to represent Hull."

Nomination forms are available from charles.cracknell@hullcc.gov.uk or by calling 01482 613 489

Call to business community to support Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015

Dear Friends

I  would like to bring to the attention of the business community the next celebration of entrepreneurship in the area following the highly successful Business Week, Global Entrepreneurship Week. I hope that you will consider getting involved in this week that will take place from the 16th – 20th November in order to support a celebration of enterprise for Hull schools and colleges, that will feature young entrepreneurs from Hull along with Claire Young, DJ Ben Rainey, Andy Pickles of U-explore and Lebo Molefe from The Hook up Dinner in South Africa.

Enterprise is a vital contributor to the health of our economy and to diversity of opportunity within our society. That is why I support your ambition to make your area the best place in the world to start and grow a business. As part of your ambition, I know the Humber is seeking to achieve a change in the perception of enterprise and entrepreneurship amongst its young people, ensuring that they have the information they need is an important tool in realising that change. During the week I am looking forward to working with young people aged 6 to 24 and their teachers and tutors as well as judging the Badgers Sett Enterprise Challenge that helps identify future entrepreneurs. In the three years that it has been running we have given over £15,000 to young entrepreneurs in real cash as well as mentoring and general support. Whilst I maybe from Wolverhampton and not Hull, I feel at home in a City that does so much to support its enterprising young people.

I am an ardent supporter of your work, in particular during Global Entrepreneurship Week,

which aims to create a more enterprising culture amongst young people. My hope is that today's young people go on to aspire to set up their own businesses, start social enterprises to improve their communities and be innovative employees themselves. Your area is doing a great deal to support their enterprising young person which makes me proud to be associated with the City. If you want to know more about the week please consider sponsoring or supporting the week and following it on Twitter @GEW2015 as it’s only with your support that we can ensure that your city’s young people become the enterprising employees and entrepreneurs of the future. So why not join KC, Hull Training, Rollits, RB, University of Hull, Hull College, Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, the Sangwin Group and Hull City Council in supporting this great culture of enterprise in your city.

If you want to see what happens during the week then please check out our website www.gewhull.co.uk that features last years events and what we hope to do this year and then contact Charles Cracknell via 613489  or charles.cracknell@hullcc.gov.uk to discuss how you can get involved in this festival of enterprise.

Ruth Badger

Patron Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership

New Enterprise Trail Game - Digital Version

In 2014 pupils from three schools ( Gillshill Primary School, Sirius Academy and Malet Lambert) working with four young entrepreneurs from Engaging Education and some Hull young entrepreneurs who had received support from The John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank produced a board game "Hull Enterprise Trail" which showed the organisations in the city that currently supports enterprising young people.

After presenting the game to Lord Young and HRH The Duke of York in June 2015 it was decided to look at creating a digital version of the game, so in October 2015 when HRH The Duke of York visited Hull we organised a workshop to create a digital version of the game, after some initial designs the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank commissioned Kit Hargreaves of Apple Pear to develop a web based game including video to illustrate the Big 13 Enterprise Skills, the Be Enterprising Group, The Youth Enterprise Summit and Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The initial prototype design was launched in June 2015 http://hullsenterprisingtrail.co.uk designed by young people. The prototype was consulted upon via Twitter and Face book as well as with members of Hull Youth Enterprise Partnership and the Be a Enterprising Group, during the consultation we was pleased that Julia Damassa actress and former winner on BBC Dragons Den in 2010 when she gained £25,000 investment in her business Story shapes Ltd www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/juliadamassa.shtml kindly agreed to do a voice over for the game and with further changes it was agreed the new version will be launched in September 2015

Charles Cracknell Youth Enterprise Manager Hull City Council said

“The enterprise trail game has been a great collaborative project between pupils, young entrepreneurs and wider business and enterprise educators across the UK and we are delighted to

have secured the services of Julia Damassa to undertake the voice over for the game"

“The idea of turning the board game into a digital version came from HRH The Duke of York and we are now just a few months from launching the game for pupils in all of our schools to have access to it"

                                                     

Julia Damassa said

“I am delighted to support this great initiative as a way of explaining to the young people in Hull what organisations are out there to support them with their enterprising idea and the videos of young people explaining about the Big 13 Enterprise Skills is a great idea – the whole concept designed with pupils and young entrepreneurs clearly shows to me how enterprising young people are in Hull.”