Business Growth Workshops
When:23/02/2012 - 26/04/2012
Business Growth Workshops have been specifically designed to complement Bournville Colleges Business Growth Academy programme and provide business owners with the chance to further develop the growth of your business. The one day workshops are ideal for those responsible at the most senior levels for Marketing & Sales, Revenue and Social Media.

If you require any further information, please email growthacademy@bournville.ac.uk
----------
Central Birmingham Social Media Surgery
When:09/05/2012 - 12/06/2012
Where: The Studio, 7 Cannon Street, Birmingham. B2 5EP

Volunteers are offering social media help to any voluntary and community groups in the Birmingham area in a relaxed, informal setting. It doesn't matter if you are the head of communications at a major charity or an active citizen in your neighbourhood. If you're at all curious come along. No boring speeches, no jargon.
Tools like blogs, podcasts, video and social networks can give a real boost to campaigning organisations, often for no or little cost. So these experts are offering you approachable one-to-one help and support because they believe it can help. You might just want to see what is possible and go away and think about it. You might be itching to set up a blog and start using it. Perhaps you think video might help you tell your story but don't know where to start? All is possible.
There'll be no lectures, just people with knowledge, ideas and a passion to help you make best use of the internet for your group or organisation.

For more information please visit http://www.digitalbirmingham.co.uk/events
----------
Facebook for Business - Growing Your Business Socially
When:11/05/2012
Where: The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce
According to the Sunday Times... "If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's third largest nation thanks to its 845m users. Can you afford to ignore such a huge market?"
Facebook and Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group invite you to a 'Facebook for Business' workshop to help you get the most out of Facebook to promote and grow your business.
This free event will see experts from Facebook's small business marketing and growth teams show you how to build and maintain a page, engage fans and master advertising to reach new customers within the 30 million UK users and beyond.
Facebook experts will share practical tips and provide a step-by-step guide to help you find new customers, drive traffic to your website or shop, and build customer loyalty. During the event you will also have the chance to learn from other small businesses in the region which have used Facebook to grow their customer base and drive sales, so you'll leave the session with all the knowledge and confidence you need to imitate their success.

For more information please visit http://www.digitalbirmingham.co.uk/events
----------
Finding Opportunities through Social Media
When:23/05/2012
Where: BCU City North Campus
Employers are increasing using social media sites to attract and recruit candidates. This session will offer you practical advice on how to get started on using social networking for finding employment opportunities. This session will be delivered by Birmingham City University's Employability Officer, Caroline Thorley and Learning & Teaching Fellow, Ruth Lawton.
To book to attend this event email your name, address and telephone number to alumni@bcu.ac.uk
----------

As March draws to a close, it’s time to look back on the things that caught our eye in the world of social media this month and why they got us talking.

• Kony video
Whether you agree with the cause or not, there is no denying that the 30min video by the group Invisible Children exploded across social media platforms on 7th March.
The video, which alleges to expose the actions of Joseph Kony in Uganda, hit 100 million views in six days making it the fastest trending topic in history and the quickest video to go viral. Celebrities and the like all joined in the hype, promoting the Twitter hashtags #stopkony and #kony2012, helping the video reach its dizzy viral heights.

• Starbucks’ free lattes
A nice little stunt by Starbucks on the 14th of this month, which saw the coffee giant give out free lattes to its customers until midday. The stunt was to promote its new scheme whereby baristas write customers names on takeaway cups, and call out the names of the customers when the drinks are ready. Obviously, the campaign soon climbed up the social media ladder, with the incentive being shared across Facebook and Twitter. After all, no one can resist a freebie.

• iPad 3
This mouth also saw the launch of Apple’s highly anticipated iPad 3. Hoping to continue the success of its previous models, the technology giant claims the product offers a whole host of enhancements, including a retina display and LTE technology (Long Term Evolution). Inevitably, the queues began days before the product actually went on sale on March 16th, with some people queuing for 4 days outside Apple stores to ensure they’d be the first to get their hands on the goods.

• Fabrice Muamba
#PrayingforMuamba became a trending topic on Twitter on March 17th with people wishing support for Fabrice Muamba, who collapsed during the first half of the Tottenham vs. Bolton football game.
Now Muamba is out of the immediate danger zone and making a steady recovery, many felt the huge influx of prayers that burst over Twitter were partly accountable. With many using this as an example to prove that worship works, some Christian MP’s jumped on the bandwagon and tried to overhaul a ban on an ad that claimed ‘God can heal’, asking for undisputed proof that prayers don’t work. Tricky.

• Angelina Jolie’s leg
Technically this happened in the last few days of February, but it’s too good to leave out. Following Angelina Jolie’s dramatic pose in a high slit dress at the 2012 Academy Awards, a whole host of copycat pictures or ‘memes’ appeared over the internet of her right leg in unusual places. Some of the best memes included Jolie’s right leg at the moon landing, featuring on the Statue of Liberty, and dubiously placed in various famous paintings.
Jolie’s right leg even got its own Tumblr blog and Twitter account with 48,000 followers. The account follows two other celebrity body parts, including Bradley Cooper’s moustache.

On 30th March all Facebook brand pages will be switched to the new timeline function. So it’s important to make sure brand pages are ready for the new format. You can rebuild your page on Facebook before publishing it out to the world. Here are some top tips from Hello Business to get you ready for the change.

Cover photos
The biggest visual change is the addition of cover photos to the pages. This is the largest visual space on the page so can be used for promotions, news or anything related to the brand. It’s the first thing users will see when they click onto your page, so make sure it conveys brand interest.

Apps
Gone are the days of an endless apps list, timeline allows just 3 prominent tabs in the area underneath the cover photo. Think carefully about which 3 features you want in prime display position on your page, after all these are the first things people are likely to see and interact with – so they should reflect the brand and push out content.

Pinning
One of the new functions of Facebook timeline is pinning. You can ‘pin’ a status to appear at the top of your timeline, which will precede any other content for 7 days. You can use this function for any promotions, making sure they are in prime position on the page. You could also use it for the companies birthday, possibly pinning something interested about the brand to show how its development since it was founded, maybe some old designs or – depending on your brand – a cheeky photo of the CEO.

Highlighting and milestones
You can highlight any post on the timeline by clicking the star icon in the top right corner. This will give the post the same dimensions as the cover photo, going over both columns on the page. You can also create milestones for the brand which will feature on the page and create a narrative with users, perhaps when the company was founded or any interesting turning points in its history.

Examples of some innovative uses of Facebook Timeline here.