Social Media For Small Businesses – A Practical Workshop

3 hour Interactive Workshop that will take you from information to action

25th September 2018, 5:00pm-8:00pm at Canalside House

[Cost: £15 for everyone outside the RBKC borough

Free for North Kensington Residents (W10, W11) under the Paving The Way Project

Contact us for your online Code: 020 7460 5050**

25% OFF for RBKC residents – Contact us for your online Code: 020 7460 5050*

*Proof of address required]

Are you thinking of starting your own business or to grow your existing one and you’re constantly looking for new ways to get your company’s brand on the radar of potential customers?

Wondering how to start your efforts, but not sure where to begin?

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other Social Media can help get the word out. It is cost-effective, reaches all ages and demographics, encourages two-way communication, lets you share A LOT about your business and is popular — really, really, popular!

It can be confusing. But don’t be afraid. Just think about all the Benefits of social media for your brand building

Promote your product or service

Increase your brand awareness

Humanize your brand

Stay at the forefront of people's mind

Build a reputation

Attract potential clients

Increase website traffic

Generate leads

Boost sales

Mark Atkinson RBKC Markets Development Officer will teach you the basics on how you can use the Social Media for your business benefit in a 3 hour Interactive Workshop that will take you from information to action:

The workshop will include:

• 5pm to 5.30pm

Welcome & introductions – Warmup exercise

• 5.30pm to 6.00pm

What is Social Media? – Presentation & discussion

• 6.00pm to 6.30pm

Choosing the right platform(s) – Know yourself, know your brand, know your customers

• 6.30pm to 6.45pm

Break

• 6.45pm to 7.15pm

Coming up with content – Engage your audience in a conversation

• 7.15pm to 7.45pm

Tips & tricks – Practical ways to simplify & streamline

• 7.45pm to 8pm

Q&A

Participants are required to bring a fully charged smartphone (or tablet or laptop) with charger & lead.

[Cost: £15 for everyone outside the RBKC borough

Free for North Kensington Residents (W10, W11) under the Paving The Way Project

Contact us for your online Code: 020 7460 5050**

25% OFF for RBKC residents – Contact us for your online Code: 020 7460 5050*

*Proof of address required]

Place: Ground Floor Training Room, Canalside House, 383 Ladbroke Grove, London W10 5AA

About Mark Atkinson:

Mark is a place-based social & economic development practitioner working on outdoor public market projects in London, England. His specialties include place-based social economies, economic development, social development, social media, change management, transformation design, organisational strategy, urban planning & design, sustainability, regeneration, process architecture, programme development, project management, and stakeholder engagement. He is passionate about helping people, businesses and organisations to fulfill their potential for creativity and value creation.

As the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s first Markets Development Officer since 2009, Mark has worked to ensure the long-term financial viability of the markets and market streets in and around Portobello Road and Golborne Road. His award-winning innovative methods include testing different approaches economic and community development through iterative prototyping of events and programming designed to increase the market’s profile in London and beyond while maximising engagement amongst local residents, businesses and organisations.

During his tennier he has established a number of social media channels for Portobello and Golborne Road market, launched street stall-based event series focussed on different themes including food, fashion, community cohesion, local supply chain, and most recently youth culture & enterprise. Of these the last has had the most resonance both locally and across London as Mark was able to pull together a diverse and resilient network of partners and participants each with their own stake in the project’s success. Mark sees ‘youth’ is a framework that can encompass virtually any theme, even intergenerational connection and cooperation.

Mark’s social media work has served as a test bed for the Council’s main corporate channels. In Particular, the original Operation Cup of Tea in 2011 demonstrated social media’s power to bring communities together through collective place-based action. Mark’s work has shown that social media has unique qualities compared to traditional media because it allows anyone to participate in direct real-time communication that can result in meaningful results. Mark has led social media workshops at Portobello Business Centre and currently coordinates a monthly series of social media meetups hosted by market area coffee shops.

Mark has been a regular participant in London and national market bodies including the Association of London Markets (where he helped organise the second London Markets Symposium in 2010), the London Street Trading Benchmarking Group, and the National Association of British Market Authorities. He sat on the URBACT Sustainable Urban Markets steering group whose report recommended a London Markets Board, which Sadiq Khan established in December 2017. He also contributed to London’s successful bid to host the International Public Markets Conference. He is now working with the GLA to develop and deliver a legacy youth-themed market launching during the International Public Markets Conference in June 2019.