Chamber all a-twitter for Small Business Week
At their monthly Business After Hours event in September at Ned Devine’s Irish Pub, the Milton Chamber of Commerce announced a unique social networking challenge for Miltonians as a lead-up to Small Business Week in October.
The objective is to encourage those who live and work in Milton to join the Milton Chamber Group on LinkedIn, a social networking site for the business community. In the spirit of friendly competition and rivalry, the ultimate goal will be to surpass the Oakville Chamber Group on LinkedIn, which currently has just under 50 members. The Milton Chamber already boasts a healthy saturation rate for memberships, with over one third of Milton businesses being Chamber members compared to 22.33 % for Oakville.
“We are pleased to be helping businesses take advantage of the technology revolution,” said Sandy Martin, Executive Director of the Milton Chamber. “With social networking tools, the boundaries for business are expanding as are the opportunities for growth.”
The deadline for the challenge is 7 a.m. on Thursday, October 22, which is the date of an educational breakfast meeting being hosted by the Chamber during Small Business Week, entitled Taste of Social Media. Social media or networking is a new marketing trend encompassing sites such as Flickr, Twitter, You Tube, LinkedIn, Blogger and Facebook. Attendees at the breakfast session will learn how social media participation is becoming an essential business tool for networking with colleagues, making new contacts, recruiting employees and keeping in touch with the world. The session is being presented by Richard Bolton of Centricity 360 and Andrew Ballenthin of SOL Solutions.
Those who wish to participate in the challenge – whether they are Milton Chamber members or not – can simply visit www.LinkedIn.com, sign up and then search for the Milton Chamber Group to become a member.
Other events being offered as part of the Small Business Week celebration include a ROXUL plant tour on October 20 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and an economic development tour on October 21 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Advance registration and payment is required for all events and is available online at www.miltonchamber.ca or by calling 905-878-0581.