SMW Charity: May 2013 Act for Kids

So happy to be sending Act for Kids over $300 from this month’s registrations.

Check them out, they provide free services to prevent & treat child abuse & neglect. Would be nice to never have this problem wouldn’t it?

“Act for Kids is an Australian charity working tirelessly to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect. We help kids and young people who have suffered abuse and neglect overcome their experiences through long-term intensive therapy. We also help strengthen families at risk.”

This month we had these 3 great charity options to choose at registration:

Greenpeace	www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/
ACCA – Australian Crohn’s and Colitis Association	www.crohnsandcolitis.com.au/
Act for Kids – provides free services to prevent & treat child abuse & neglect.	www.actforkids.com.au

To learn more about our Charity donations, please click here.

What’s Your Story? This is Mine…

 

Hi! I have been wanting to document this story since Catriona Pollard and I started Social Media Women, so it seemed a great time to share it since we are asking you to share your story, here’s mine…

A couple of years ago, I found myself changing my business, Paper Magnolia, and working on a new business, Magnolia Solutions.  I was a stationery wholesaler who was building her brand and working on customers businesses  as any good wholesaler does.  As much as I loved my products and my customers, I was feeling isolated from the world and  not as fulfilled as I once did, I was not using my brain as much as I would have liked. I was also at the mercy of the fickle retail market. 

As Magnolia Solutions grew, I was recommended to get into Twitter.  My initial thought was, “No Way!!! I have a website, I have just gotten into this Facebook thing, I can’t possible do another thing…”.  But as a marketer you have to keep up with what is going on and the tools at your disposal.

WELL! What I discovered was an amazing resource filled with amazing people (and lots of really not amazing people but I wanted to concentrate on the great things!)  The think that impacted me the most was the true spirit of sharing and collaboration.  The access to people that I would never normally have, and no I don’t mean Ashton Kutcher (for the record I don’t follow him).  Initially I was just observing and learning. 

By being a part of a few online communities who were connecting online but not in real life, I ‘met’ Frances Jones http://twitter.com/FrancieJones).  Frances told me all about Tweet Ups and noticed that I had blogged about Gelatomassi as had Tony Hollingsworth (@hollingsworth).   She kindly ‘introduced’ us and I started to watch Tony’s Tweets.  Tony was tweeting about coffee mornings  – now I love coffee (not so much a lover of mornings but hey!) so I investigated further!

Coffee Mornings are on in Surry Hills and in Mosman Northside Coffee Mornings (#nscm).  As #nscm started later than Coffee Mornings they won it for me!!  So I started watching the tweets and connecting with a couple of people.  I was a little nervous turning up and checking it out but that feeling disappeared in minutes!!  So I started going weekly and being part of a real online discussion and group on Twitter it was so great!!  Instead of just re-tweeting I was contributing.  I was also able to be part of discussions that I would not normally be part of.  I even did a posterous post on my wonderful friends.

One of the people I admired in the group was Catriona Pollard, she was a canny savvy business woman with an appreciation of the important things in life.  After a couple of chats I asked her if she would mind me discussing my new business and how I was setting up the services etc as I was new to all this and she had been doing it for 10 years.  I am not normally so forward (until I know people a LOT better) and glad I was this time!

I quickly discovered that Catriona is EXACTLY the same person online as offline, she is genuine, giving, a true sharer of information and is an amazing collaborator.  My experience is that a lot of people aren’t what they seem, so I was very pleasantly surprised!

After a short time we started meeting up and so began a great friendship.  Catriona had been talking about starting a group for women in social media and then we decided to give it a go!  I would not have gone on this great journey with anyone else, absolutely.  Catriona and I have been having a blast and are thoroughly enjoying all that is coming our way!  I am not sure that we eventually would not have met if it was not for Twitter, but we will never know!!

I have met so many great people who I now consider friends from this group and other communities. 

So thank you Social Media for giving me a wonderful new friend!

What’s Your Story?

 

One of the themes from ConnectNow was how brands need to engage in storytelling (more info http://publicrelationssydney.com.au/?p=714)

Some of the themes that emerged from the ConnectNow conference include:

• Social media starts with listening and researching. Just showing up on the networks isn’t enough. Brands need to connect and engage with people as individuals.

• Social media is not brands or companies world – its for individuals. “You’re invited, buts it’s our world”. “If you want us to talk to you, tell us something. Make it something interesting”

• Social Media has nothing to do with technology. Its about sociology & psychology. Its making us human again by building villages, connections and opening sharing information and knowledge.

• We are now built on a word-of-mouth society. • Content is king! Offer useful information that will help people. Online publishers don’t produce the most content online – individuals do, so its a democratisation of information. • Story telling isn’t just for kids – we are all story tellers online.

• Love your community – give back.

We invite you to share your story, a story, anything!!  Here or Facebook  or LinkedIn…

Our First Meeting :: March 2010

   

  

Much Fun was had at our first meeting!!

It was a true meeting of the minds, finding people who can relate and support you is a rare thing!

The Blues Point Hotel at Sunset was the perfect venue!

Social Media Women – connecting & collaborating

Social Media Women, a new group launched on International Women’s Day, is using the power of social media to connect women and give them a voice within this space.

Co founder, Catriona Pollard Director of CP Communications, said Social Media Women has been established to encourage and assist women to participate more prominently in social media.

“We are seeing more and more women online and the obvious next step is to create a group that recognises the important role women play in social media and actively build the community,” said Catriona.

Stats show that there are equal numbers of men and women use sites like LinkedIn and YouTube and when it comes to sites like Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, FriendFeed, MySpace, and Bebo women outnumber men.

However research from Harvard Business Review showed that even though there are more women on Twitter, they get less love.  Men and women follow a similar number of Twitter users, men have 15% more followers. Further, men are almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman.

“So what can be done about this? We can start by seeking out, following more women on Twitter and other social networks and supporting each other in all that we do,” said Catriona

“Social media is a powerful tool, both personally and professionally. It becomes extraordinarily powerful when online connections become real friendships and business connections.”

“Women want inspiration and collaboration, support and confidence. They certainly don’t want self proclaimed social media gurus pushing them to the sidelines.”

“With Social Media Women we have created a safe place for women to gain experience and confidence to ask questions, learn and challenge themselves to grow, evolve and aspire.”

“Our first meeting saw over 40 women attend on only a weeks notice, with over 70 actually registering with the group. We had women attend who had no social networking experience, and some who run their own social media companies,” Catriona explained.

“The buzz around the launch of this group has been amazing. Obviously women understand the power of social networking and want a place to be able to express it.”

“When we opened floor to share experiences, the stories were inspirational – both professionally and personally. One woman shared an incredibly inspirational story about how Twitter literally saved her life by allowing her to connect with people who she found better understood her.”

“Unfortunately there may be some resistance within pockets of the industry to Social Media Women, but it’s so much more beneficial for everyone if the whole community gets involved and supports this group,” said Catriona.

Co founder, Nancy Georges, director of Magnolia Solutions said “As early adopters of Social Media we are in a great position to share information and experiences with each other so that we can grow our knowledge and learn the tricks of Social Media in our businesses and our personal lives.”

“We know there are so many amazing women out there who just need a platform for their voice to be heard and a community to support them. In our wildest dreams we did not think it would spread so quickly. My heart was beating loudly and happily and filled with joy during and since our first gathering!  What a great adventure we will be on together,” said Nancy.

The founding members of Social Media Women met through social media and have now forged strong professional ties and friendships. They are Catriona Pollard (CP Communications) and Nancy Georges (Magnolia Solutions).

The group physically meets on the second Tuesday of the month. During the rest of the month the women continue to connect with each other on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs and the Social Media Women website.

Social Media Women welcomes all women whether working on their own or in an existing company, business, organisation or still studying. It’s for women that are interested in media, networking, communications and exploring the new ways people are communicating.

Connect with Social Media Women:

Web:                           www.SocialMediaWomen.wordpress.com

Linkedin Groups:         Social Media Women

Facebook:                   Social Media Women

Twitter:                       @SocialMediaWomn

Posterous:                 socialmediawomen.posterous.com

Email:                         socialmediawomen@gmail.com

Phone:                        (02) 9922 1063 (CP Communications)

The next meeting will be Tuesday 13 April. To register: http://socialmediawomen.eventbrite.com/