8 | Aycliffe Today Business
LET SOCIAL MEDIA
WORK FOR YOU…
With social media expert and thrive
director Rachel Townsend Green
At thrive, we’re big fans of social
media and passionate about
helping businesses connect with
the social media universe in a
strategic and beneficial way.
There are a number of concerns you may
have when starting out with social media:
• ‘Should I do it?’
• ‘Which channels should I use?’
• ‘What content should I use, how often
and in what way?’
When a decision to ‘do it’ is made, we say,
“Always use a strategic approach, over the
‘hold your nose and jump in’ kind” Typically,
.
the decision is followed by, ‘How on earth
can I keep up?’, then we say, “You have
to dedicate a lot of time and an extensive,
strategic approach is essential to any level
of success”
.
Participation can be incredibly daunting –
for some, unbearable - when coupled with
the rapid changes in technology and social
media. Keeping up with modern marketing
revolves around knowing all about the
new acquisitions and applications which
consistently transform the landscape.
These technological changes came with a
promise of “relationships” but many soon
,
lost sight of the original understanding
that “social media relationships should be
emblematic of human ones”
.
Consider overall business aims and
implement social media to deliver specific
benefits, which are capable of sustaining
a social relationship at each of these
marketing stages:
• ATTRACT - a social following
• CONVERT - promote lead generating
content
• CLOSE - personalise sales conversations
• DELIGHT - delight and create brand
ambassadors
Masterminding your social media strategy?
Pop into thrive for a FREE no-obligation
chat (and a cuppa, of course).
Rachel Townsend Green
Director, thrive
DOUBLE GONG FOR
AYCLIFFE BUSINESSES
Two Aycliffe Business Park firms
picked up gongs at the North
East Business Awards in early
March.
Ebac won Manufacturer of the Year award,
while new kids on the block Emerald Biogas
won Best Newcomer.
“At Ebac we do what we do for Ebac, for its
staff and customers, the firm’s managing
”
director Pamela Petty told Aycliffe Today
Business.
“But winning the award does give us all the
warm feeling that we're doing something
right.
”
Ebac has recently completed the move of the
chest freezer equipment from Castletown in
Scotland, and the factory on the old Radius
site is expected to be making chest freezers
by the end of the March.
Pamela added: “We recently gave away 45
chest freezers to local community projects
and our factory sale day was a great success.
“Washing machines are progressing and we
will have first tub samples for testing by the
end of the March.
”
See pages 22 and 23 for our special
feature on Emerald Biogas.
AYCLIFFE
BUSINESS
PARK EVENTS
HAILED A
SUCCESS
Two events organised by
the Aycliffe Business Park
Community were hugely
successful.
The first birthday event, held at the end of
January at the Xcel Centre, was extremely
well attended, as Business Durham boss
Simon Goon talked to guests about exciting
opportunities coming up for the park and its
businesses.
Meanwhile, a best practice event held
at South West Durham Training on 28th
February enabled attendees to learn more
about funding.
Organiser Rachel Townsend Green said: “It
was great to have some key people from
various funding agencies in the room, to offer
their advice on what’s out there and what
kind of funding businesses can tap into.
“It’s important for us to try to deliver
opportunities that can make tangible
benefits.
“We're in a challenging business
environment, so whatever help
companies can get through coming
to these meetings is brilliant.
”
David Symington, from Water Cooler World,
attended the funding event, and he said:
“Because we're a small business we're busy
just getting on with things. We've always
wanted to look into funding, what we're
entitled to and what could help us grow the
business, but often you just don't have the
time to look into it.
“So events like this are fantastic. It gives you
a morning or a day to actually leave the office
and find out what you need to know.
“I've learned of things that could be available
to us, which will help us to grow the
business.
“It's been another useful event for us which
is why we'll continue to come to these
events organised by the Aycliffe Business
Park Community.
”