Author: Tina Calder

Girls just wanna have fun, right? 

Everyone is missing out on quality time face to face with their friends due to lockdown restrictions. 

However, just recently Amanda Holden, star judge on Britain’s Got Talent, showed us all how important it is to catch up with the girls during lockdown. 

“Amanda and her friends held a girls night in via zoom and invited us along via her instagram to show us girls how important it is to keep the girl power going strong” said artist and designer Kelsey Tyson, owner of Girl Limit, a home accessories and beauty brand.

So, if you’re missing your Sunday spa sessions, Tuesday treats cinema nights or Friday evening catch up drink’s with the girls, well look no further because we have you covered! 

Staying in has now become the new going out.

Check out Girl Limit’s top 7 ideas for catching up with the girls during lockdown: 

1. The HouseParty App

Instead of going out to the party, bring the party to you! HouseParty is the face-to-face social network where you can connect with the people you care about most. 

The app makes connecting face to face effortless, alerting you when your friends are “in the house” and ready to chat so you can jump right into the conversation.

This is perfect for cocktail night’s in with the girls. 

Check it out here >> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.herzick.houseparty&hl=en_GB

2. Zoom Quiz Night

Zoom has been very popular for online webinars and conference calls, however, it has been proving popular all over the UK in bringing families and friends closer together for weekend quiz nights.

Get the girls together for virtual drinks and have a themed quiz night chick flicks, heartthrob actors, dance floor bangers all while having fun from the comfort of your own sofa! 

Check Zoom here >> https://zoom.us/

3. Online Pampering sessions

Who says you have to spend a fortune on a spa day out when you can bring the spa to your home. 

Get the girls together for a relaxing evening unwinding, we could all use a break during the current stressful climate. 

Make your own mud face masks, chop up a cucumber and place on your eyelids, show off your latest skincare routine and rate the products amongst your friends comparing and contrasting, dress in your comfies and pour yourself a glass of champagne. 

Zoom will even let you change your background to make it look like you’re somewhere relaxing. 

Check out some DIY mud masks here >> https://www.siobeauty.com/blogs/news/mud-mask

4. Online Yoga workouts

Get your girls vrtually together and do a workout from your own living room or home gym with online Yoga workouts. 

Ask each friend to research a different exercise and then show eachother how it’s done. 

It’s the perfect excuse to catch up with the girls whilst still maintaining your healthy lifestyle. 

Yoga is also very soothing and relaxing, after the workout stay online and chat to check in with each other, make it a weekly thing! 

Youtube has a great selection of yoga workouts check it out here >> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZkDZKOcvYTh4dRDXQ71m7gQUmWkDmLAl

5. Digital Book Club

Want to clock out of social media? Why not create your own digital book club. 

Choose a book and make it up lifting, a book you can all lose yourselves in. 

Each week  arrange a digital meet up to chat and discuss the chapters you have just read. So pour yourself a glass of wine and escape with your friends.

Check out these bestsellers of 2020 on Amazon >> https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/2020/books

6. Cook Dinner Together

I know you can’t go to that favourite restaurant you all love but why not bring your favourite foods to your kitchen.

Organise an online dinner night. Pick a theme, make it fun, Mexican night with homemade fajitas, cocktails and why not even dress up? 

Have a starter, main and dessert and share the recipe with your girls. 

The BBC have loads of tasty treats and homemade meals ideas, check it out here >> https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes

7. Just Dance 

Missing tearing up the dance floor with your best friends? 

Well now you can bring the dance floor to your living room. This was originally a game that needed a console and remotes. 

Just Dance have designed an app using a smartphone. Pick your ultimate fav songs and dance the night away, together.

Check it out here >> https://justdancenow.com/

8. Keep Connected

And finally, just connect. If you don’t feel up to any activities don’t stress, just check in on your friends from time to time and let them know you’re thinking of them. 

We all took for granted spending time with our closest girlfriends but staying connected online can make us appreciate them even more when we do get to finally see them in person. 

Looking for the perfect gift for one of your girls? Check out the Girl Limit collection at https://bit.ly/girllimit 

Many small business owners make the mistake of thinking that branding is something that’s only for the bigger players, and they couldn’t be more wrong.

For over ten years, Steve Neill from The Foundation has helped small and medium sized businesses tell their brand stories and communicate with their key audiences. He believes in using design to support strategic business growth and to build enduring relationships between businesses and their customers. 

At a recent Cathedral Quarter BID Lunchtime Learning event, Steve delivered a workshop on brand and design for SMEs, here are the key takeaways: 

“Lots of businesses make the mistake of creating pretty pictures for pretty picture’s sake – your brand has commercial value, so what you do with it should have commercial purpose” said Steve. 

“In years gone by, advertisers believed you had seven seconds to grab your audience’s attention, today we believe it is closer to three seconds. Therefore, you need to share your message succinctly, ensure your branding is distinctive, and tell your story in an engaging way.”

Your brand isn’t just your logo, or your slogan, or even your font and colour scheme. Your brand is what your customers and potential customers say and think about you. This is your brand identity. 

Your logo, and slogan, and font and colour scheme are building blocks that help to make your brand identifiable, and which can visually represent your brand by triggering in customers and potential customers associated thoughts and feelings. 

Steve explained: “The truth is – you have a brand whether you create it or not. All your interactions and communications feed into this story of who you are. If you aren’t intentional about it, it can become messy and unruly. Take control of your brand story and ensure consistency.”

Still not convinced? Here are 5 reasons why your brand matters: 

1. Strong branding creates trust through maintaining a high level of professionalism. 
2. Strong branding improves recognition. This can be boosted with a unique logo, even better if your logo tells a story. Don’t follow trends, go with what’s true for your brand. 
3. Your branding will help your marketing. You can create specific messages for target audiences that are on-brand. 
4. Branding helps you to attract the “right” talent that are a good fit for your organisation. It’s not news that today we have an employee-led market with the lowest unemployment rate on record. Getting the right people into our businesses is crucial and our branding can help to attract top talent, as well as the right talent. 
5. Branding helps to generate new revenue and business growth. Being recognisable and representing high quality helps your bottom line.

A final word from Steve: “Ideally, invest in brand-building early on. Determine your “what”, “how” and “why” – what do you do well, how do you do it, and why do you do it? Use this to create your business’ vision and mission. Identify your key values, also sometimes called your brand values. What are the three or five key things that matter to your business? 

“From here, it’s important to understand your market and your customers – what are their pain points? What problems do you solve, or what solutions do you provide? What matters to them? Finally, engage your audience and remember to respond to them – engage in conversation and dialogue – don’t just sell ‘at’ them.”Want to hear even more top tips about branding for SMEs? Check out the full recording of Steve’s workshop here >> https://www.cathedralquarterbelfast.com/whats-on/lunchtime-learning-brand-design-for-smes-2
Check out other Lunchtime Learning sessions here >>  https://www.cathedralquarterbelfast.com/lunchtime-learning

A free webinar from Empowerment Specialist and Transformational Speaker, Deborah King, this week (Thursday, May 28) aims to help you manage your health and wellbeing in these troubling times.

Deborah’s webinar is entitled Learn How Your Body Speaks To You – The Mind, Body, Emotion Connection.

It covers her personal journey of discovery, and how understanding of the mind, emotions and the physical body helped her maintain her own health and wellbeing including recovering from long term depression.

“This webinar will support you to become more in tune with your body to give you a better insight into how you can be in control of your own health,” she said. “As we all work through the difficulties we face during this pandemic I want to help and assist you to look at your health from a different perspective, address what can be done and how to do it”

Lasting an hour, from 7.30pm on Thursday May 28 the webinar will include a question and answer session as well.

Attendees will also hear from Deborah how to understand the connections between the mind, emotions and body, and why problems in the mind, body or soul can manifest physically.

In addition Deborah will discuss how healing mental and emotional trauma can aid physical recovery, and how to identify problems for some common illnesses and diseases.

“This free webinar is my chance to share what I have learned, what I have used, and the understanding that I believe can make a massive difference to your lives now and in the future.”

Register for Deborah’s free webinar here >> https://bit.ly/2XCequ7

A free webinar will this week (Thursday, May 28) reveal the secrets of creating good quality blogs for your business with creative content, successful campaigns and brand awareness.

The latest in a series of free webinars by Excalibur Press delivered by Tina Calder, Blogging For Business, lifts the veil on the world of blogging in a 90-minute webinar outlining the benefits of blogs, together with a series of tips and tricks to make your content work for you.

“Too often companies work hard on their web presence and social media channels and forget the power of blogging,” said Tina. “This free webinar outlines how the tricks and tips I have learned to make blogging work in tandem with your other campaigns.

“There are pitfalls that can be avoided by giving enough lead time, planning content, rather than as an afterthought, and how you can use it to drive more people to your brand.”

Beginning at 3pm on Thursday, there are still places available to book now for this unique slide/video based session as Tina shows how to make your blog work for you.

The webinar will see publicist, journalist and commentator, Tina cover why blog for business, what types of blog to use, how to create quick and easy blog posts, the key ingredients for a successful blog, the tools, tips and tricks for content, and how to create quick and easy content from blog posts.

“Many still see blogs as something for hobbyists, but they are a key part of explaining your business and relating to your clients,” said Tina. 

“But to make it work for your business you need the focus and direction to make the content do the right thing for you every time.”

“There are a lot of small tips and tricks and tactics that people can use to ensure they create a long-lasting business rather than just something that will subside when the crisis subsides.

“We’ve set aside an hour and a half for this webinar which will help you start thinking about what you need in order to supercharge your digital content. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions throughout.”

Tina will also showcase how blogging enables you to give potential customers much more information on your offering, displaying your experience and expertise.

In addition, the webinar will outline how blogging about relevant topics helps your website achieve a higher Google ranking, how content can be used in many ways and can be written to specifically target potential customers, investors, or even employees.

“Blogging is a conscious effort to add valuable content to your website. Maximise the time and effort they take to create by always including a call to action at the end, and repurposing them on social media channels” said Tina.

“Ideally, you want your blog to break through the noise. Making sure each blog post has a purpose can help this. Blogs should be written to entertain, educate, inspire, excite, inform, or create an emotional connection, with the ultimate goal being to move the reader to take some form of action.”

Throughout the session Tina aims to simplify the blog creation process and give attendees real and practical tips and advice on how you can begin working on their digital content today.

To book your place for the Blogging For Business webinar on Thursday May 28th go to https://bit.ly/3bsosCK

Brain Injury Matters has maintained its services to those affected by Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) despite the challenges of the current Covid-19 crisis.

Shifting rapidly to a range of technological solutions Brain Injury Matters has adapted how it supports children, young people, adults and families affected by ABI.

From regular phone calls through to a web portal the charity has managed to preserve its vital lifeline to users.

CEO, Joe McVey, explained that the shift to remote services was essential given the concerns of those that they supported.

“In the beginning many of our services users found the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown very unsettling, worrying and concerning for their families and themselves,” he said. “There were many questions and queries about how or if BIM will be able to continue to provide services.”

Knowing that they needed to respond a range of options were developed.

“Brain Injury Matters took the decision promptly to move to remote working but ensuring that we maintained the support and engagement of all services users,” Joe explained. “All services moved to telephone and online communication by way of Zoom, Skype, Facebook, WhatsApp and the Family First Portal.

“All programmes are now delivered through these mediums, with staff having become familiar overnight with this way of working. It was also imperative that staff were able to communicate directly with one another and their line managers to ensure support during this time.

“Support was vital to our clients during this time of uncertainty, to help survivors of acquired brain injury to reduce feelings of isolation, anxiety and stress brought on by their brain injury and made worse by the coronavirus.”

Adult service users are now supported by the ‘Positivity Hub’ online (funded by the CFNI) to engage with those who previously attended the Belfast Brain Injury Centre.

Brain Injury Matters children and youth services also continue to provide services.

“While we are unable to visit, we continue to provide support by telephone, online and the Family First Portal,” said Bridget Smyth, head of children and youth services, adding: “The portal has been updated and developed to allow us to communicate better with families so that staff can continue to intervene and support families.

“Our Family First Portal is an Online Tool is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and developed in partnership with the psychology services of BHSCT that allows us to share documents, have conversations, and organise virtual sessions through use of technology such as Zoom & Skype.

“Families are able to communicate with other families through the Portal, and there is now a lovely community of families with children affected by ABI, sharing their experiences of ABI and how they are adapting to life in lockdown. We are also in the process of creating videos to demonstrate skills, strategies and activities that parents can do with their children during this uncertain time.

“While we are developing technology to stay connected, we in the Children and Youth Service do not underestimate the importance of connection through more traditional means such as phone calls, and have been supporting parents and families in this way since lockdown.”

To find out more about Brain Injury Matters please visit www.braininjurymatters.org.uk

Excalibur Press is continuing support to businesses with two free webinars this week (Wednesday and Thursday) on Do You Want To Start Podcasting? Here’s How I Did It! and How To Create An Effective Thought Leadership Strategy. 

The webinars are the latest in the ongoing series of webinars hosted by Tina Calder, designed to provide easy to follow guides for business owners.

In these unique online training and support sessions Tina will take delegates through the basics of how to create a podcast, creating a thought leadership strategy.

“When we were creating this webinar series we realised that at Excalibur Press there were a lot of things we could share with our current clients and the wider business community that could help them work on their business behind the scenes as things slowed down due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

“From blogging for business and creating LinkedIn content to setting up your own webinar and online course we hope that this series will help to kickstart people’s digital activities during this downtime so that by the time businesses are back up and running they have everything they need to be ahead of the pack.

“What the Corona Virus has done is force many entrepreneurs and businesses to fast forward or accelerate their desires to move their services and products online, we hope these webinars will help them do just that.”

Each of this week’s webinars begins at 3pm, featuring video and slide based learning with places still available to book for you and your team.

Wednesday’s session will provide a quick and easy guide to creating your own podcast, including explaining the popularity of podcasts, a ‘how to’ guide, equipment needed, distribution, the essential tools Tina uses and tips and tricks for success.

On Thursday attendees will learn what thought leadership is, why consider a thought leadership strategy and how it can help their personal brand or business.

Tina will take attendees through types of thought leadership as well as reveal top tips to maximise their thought leadership trajectory.

As founder of Excalibur Press publicity management, content creation and copywriting agency Tina has been in the business working in Northern Ireland for over 20 years and has worked with a number of thought leaders over the years.

She said: “Over the last two years I’ve been intensely studying the world of thought leadership and I’ve realised that one of the most difficult things for people to do is firstly, understand that they have the capacity to be a thought leader and secondly, admit that they want to be one.

“By showing people how a thought leadership strategy can be an essential tool in your personal brand or business marketing I hope to demystify how to start creating one today.”

After running the free webinars for a number of weeks Tina has noticed the hunger for people, especially small and medium sized businesses to adapt to the current lockdown and adopt techniques, delivery and marketing online.

“These are challenging times, and if we can we should work online and still keep our businesses operating,” she said. “I hope that the webinars will help equip people to stay on course, online.

“We’ve set aside an hour and a half for each overview webinar, which will help people start thinking about what you need in order to get your own podcast up and running and develop your thought leadership path. There will be an opportunity to ask questions throughout.”

Register for Do You Want To Start Podcasting? Here’s How I Did It! on Wednesday 20th May at 3pm >> https://bit.ly/3cK712b

Register for How To Create An Effective Thought Leadership Strategy on Thursday 21st May at 3pm >> https://bit.ly/3fYySh4

To find out what other free webinars are coming up go to excaliburpress.co.uk/events

SEO is the practice of optimising your website, so it organically ranks higher in search engines, especially Google. Over 90% of searches happen on Google, the equivalent of 70,000 searches per second. 

Organic rankings are where your website appears in Google searches without any paid advertising – so investing some time and resource into making your SEO the best it can be can really pay off in the long-term. 

Lea Glover is a Digital Marketing Manager with Belfast-based web solutions provider, Flint Studios. With over 10 years’ experience in digital marketing, specialising in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), she was the perfect speaker to provide SEO tips to small business owners at a Cathedral Quarter BID Lunchtime Learning Workshop.

Lea said: “In 1999, Google announced that over 200 criteria are used to determine a website’s rank. Twenty years on, this is bound to have increased significantly, and the criteria can change annually, so it’s difficult to keep up. However, there are some areas that are consistently important in determining how high your website will rank.”

Here are Lea’s 6 key areas to focus on to boost your SEO and website performance:

1. Keyword Research

“Before undertaking any SEO work on your website, it’s super important to know what keywords you want to be found for” said Lea, adding: “Think of search terms potential customers may use to find you and use tools like SEMRush and Answer The Public to see how many searches are being carried out on those phrases monthly. You don’t want to focus on ranking for keywords that have thousands upon thousands of monthly searches, because it will be very difficult to do, but equally you don’t want to focus on ranking for keywords that have too few monthly searches (unless they are super relevant and niche). Aim for a sweet spot somewhere in the middle.”

2. On-Page Optimisation

Assign keywords, and even secondary keywords, to each page on your website. Then optimise the content for those words, including:

• Meta Title Tags – the blue text that is hyperlinked in a Google search. 
• Meta Description – the grey text that describes what a search result is about in Google.
• An SEO-friendly URL – include keywords in your URL, if possible. (However, don’t go back and change URLs on well-established pages as this could cause more harm than good). 
• Headline (H1) title tags in the site’s HTML (you may need a web developer to help you with this). 
• Within the content of the page itself, aim for a minimum of 250 words. 
• Image file names and alt tags. 
• Internal links (to other relevant pages on your website) and external links (to other relevant pages on other websites). 

3. Content Creation

“Google loves fresh content and new things on your website, so creating useful and relevant content is a great way to boost your rankings” said Lea.

When writing content for your website, think about how you can create content that:

• Generates awareness, such as ‘How To’ posts, Q&As, and informational videos. 
• Increases interest, such as infographics and brochures. 
• Allows for consideration, such as reviews, testimonials, and case studies. 
• Maximises conversion, such as contact forms, lead capture pages, calls to action. 
• Encourages retention, such as newsletters, events, memberships, loyalty points, etc. 

4. SERP Features

Lea explained: “Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) have developed over time to become much more dynamic and user-friendly, which also means there are more ways to get your website noticed. Google My Business is a free tool for all business owners that can help you optimise your search listing. 

“Longform content on your website that is between 1,500 and 2,000 words, which answers a specific question that people are searching for in relation to your products and services can help get you listed under the ‘People Also Ask’ section.”

5. Technical SEO

This is where you may need the help of your web developer, though there are some things you can do yourself to give your technical SEO a helping hand. This includes: 

• Ensuring a quick page load speed. 
• Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly and optimised for mobile. 
• Ensuring your scheme markups are in place. 
• Ensuring your website has an SSL certificate. 
• Setting up your Google Console and Google Analytics correctly.

6. Link Building

When adding links to your own website or getting others to add a link to your website on theirs, relevancy, trust, and authority are really important. You don’t want lots of links from one website, you want lots of links from lots of websites. 

Want to hear more tips and ideas from Lea on SEO? Check out the full recording here >> https://www.cathedralquarterbelfast.com/whats-on/lunchtime-learning-seo-for-beginners-2

To see more Lunchtime Learning sessions go to: https://www.cathedralquarterbelfast.com/lunchtime-learning 

By Jonathan Traynor

DERRY YouTube sensation, Adam Beales, sprung the surprise of a lifetime on his parents this week as he presented them with a new house on Friday, before uploading the big reveal to his YouTube channel yesterday (Saturday).

More than a year in the planning Adam, known as Adam B online, managed to keep it a secret from his mum and dad Edelle and Paul.

However, the whole scheme nearly collapsed with the Covid-19 lockdown. Adam had signed the final papers on the house the day before lockdown was announced but couldn’t press ahead with his surprise.

This week he was finally ready for the big reveal: “Just this week, with the property market opening back up again across the UK, I enquired with the local council and government to see if what I was planning to do, was allowed at this stage. Thankfully, it was.”

The 20-year-old YouTube star has amassed more than 2.7 million subscribers to his channel but is conscious that this purchase shouldn’t be seen as an extravagance in these times.

“I don’t want people to get the wrong ideas that this house was just bought on a whim by some obnoxious vlogger during times like these,” Adam explained.

“This has been in the pipeline for quite some time now and it just so happens that the surprise takes place during these crazy times.

“However, I do hope people can see that it was quite a long, up and down journey to eventually hand over the keys to my parents.”

Earlier this month Adam gave away more than £1,000 to people in need who contacted him on his Twitter feed.

“I love getting involved with good causes and I’m fortunate to be in a position where I can help others. I’ve some charity work in the planning at the minute and I’m just itching to get telling people about these fantastic causes that make such a massive difference in people’s lives.”

Adam’s parents had been considering a move for some time after floating the idea in 2018.

“They then started looking at houses and viewing houses in January of 2019,” he explained, adding: “However, with COVID-19, they haven’t really been on looking for new houses which sort of made me a bit nervous because by the stage the pandemic hit – the house was already bought and I was thinking, ‘what if they’ve changed their mind?’.”

Deciding on the exact house wasn’t an issue said Adam: “They viewed a lot of houses, really, quite a lot. But this was the one that stood out to them.”

For a number of years Adam has been garnering more and more YouTube subscribers, as well as more than 500,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok with his witty pranks and sketches

He is thankful to his parents for helping him pursue his dream.

“They understood the passion that I had for YouTube and kept motivating me to strive for more, Adam explained. “I guess what really meant so much to me, is that they believed in me.

“It would have been easy for them to encourage me to stop YouTube and pursue university in fear that YouTube may not work out. However, they believed in me and my decision and welcomed it with open arms. I am so, so thankful. And I’m incredibly grateful that I can help them.”

And, what a help.

“The house I bought for them was actually a brand, new show home in a new development, Adam said. “It has all the mod-cons and everything is in pristine condition.”

“It’s still a 4-bedroom house so they’re not downsizing or upsizing from their last home.

“It was the only house that made my mum and dad’s jaw drop. I knew the second I saw their faces when they were viewing the house that this was the one.

Now that they know, one member of the family is already excited about settling in. 

“I think the biggest feature that my little brother will love is the internet speed,” he said. “This new home has 100x faster broadband than the house my parents were living in so no doubt, there will be no more freezes or lagging when Callum is playing Fortnite.”

It wasn’t easy for Adam to keep the surprise under wraps.

“This has been the hardest secret to keep in my entire life,” he said “I’m so close to my family so I tell them everything that’s going on. This was the only time where I had to keep something so big to myself.

“Usually, my mum and dad know when I’m hiding something, but they had no clue that a house was in the process of being bought behind their backs. I’m so glad the news is out because it is so nerve-racking trying to hold in such a big surprise for so long.”

With the Covid-19 pandemic Adam is keen to express his thanks to all who are working in these daunting times, and that he is undertaking this purchase within the current rules.

“The true heroes out there are the people working in the NHS and the frontlines, helping to save lives, keep the country running, and the least we all can do was to stay home,” he said. 

“The stay at home message was, and still is, loud and clear so I just had to wait until I got further news from the local council and government for when it was safe to do so. “

Now Adam and his family are set to organise move in.

“With local authorities’ advice, and adhering to the social distancing rules,” he explained. “We are going to rent a van ourselves so no one is helping us and therefore mitigating the risk of spreading the virus.

“However, I think my mum and dad will still be in shock so I have no clue when or what they’re going to move into the new house.”

Adam is leaving the exact date down to his parents, as he said: “It’s their house now so it is up to them. – I think they might need some time for it all to sink in”.

The YouTube star also wanted to express his thanks to everyone who takes the time to follow him online.

“I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who has watched my videos, supported me throughout the years and believed in the hustle,” Adam said. “I hope to continue making good quality family entertainment and I can’t wait to share more news in the coming months.”

On his Facebook page Adam describes what he does that attracts so many subscribers: “a not so funny person trying to be funny”.

“You can catch me doing pranks, challenges, vlogs, Q&A’s, life hacks, gaming, eating food and so much more!”

Check out Adam’s videos on his YouTube channel Adam B.

Belfast content and publicity company Excalibur Press is continuing support to businesses with two free webinars this week (Wednesday and Thursday) on Setting Up Your First Webinar and Turning Your Face to Face Training into Online Courses.

The webinars are the latest in the ongoing series of webinars hosted by company founder Tina Calder, designed to provide easy to follow guides for business owners.

In these unique online training and support sessions Tina will take delegates through the basics of how to create a webinar, the structure and content and look at areas such as promotional tactics and the technology used to create them.

“As a result of the Covid-19 crisis more and more of our clients at Excalibur Press are asking us to help them with their digital transformation” said Tina. 

“From creating online courses and mapping out marketing and sales funnels what the Corona Virus has done is force many entrepreneurs and businesses to fast forward or accelerate their desires to move their services and products online.”

Each of this week’s courses begins at 3pm, featuring video and slide based learning. Places are still available to book.

Wednesday’s session will provide all the lessons needed to create your own webinar, including the essential tools and the tips and tricks for success.

On Thursday Tina will guide through the processes to move training online, including how to audit and analyse offline training before switching to online, including marketing it. 

As founder of Excalibur Press publicity management, content creation and copywriting agency Tina has been in the business working in Northern Ireland for the last 20 years and has worked with a number of thought leaders over the years.

She said: “Over the last two years I’ve been intensely studying the world of thought leadership and during that time I’ve been on some pretty decent webinars…and I’ve also caught a turkey or two! 

“I wanted to create this series of webinars to help people avoid some of the mistakes I’ve seen so many times.”

After running the free webinars for a number of weeks Tina has noticed the hunger for people, especially small and medium sized businesses to adapt to the current lockdown and adopt techniques, delivery and marketing online.

“These are challenging times, and if we can we should work online and still keep our businesses working,” she said. “I hope that the webinars will help equip people to stay on course, online.

“We’ve set aside an hour and a half for this overview webinar which will help you start thinking about what you need in order to get your own webinars up and running. There will be an opportunity to ask questions throughout.”

Register for Setting Up Your First Webinar? Here’s How I Did It! at bit.ly/2Lj6GHu

Register for Turning Your Face To Face Training Into An Online Course at bit.ly/2Liuvze

To find out what other free webinars are coming up go to excaliburpress.co.uk/events

Digital transformation has impacted on a wide range of business functions for many years, including the HR function and organisational recruitment strategies and tools. Perhaps ten years ago companies were able to get by with more traditional recruitment methods, but today, some form of digital recruitment integration is usually required.

Michelle Tyson, founder and director of Tyson Wilson Recruitment and Tyson Wilson Temps has been recruiting digitally for a number of years now.

But she is warning companies and recruiters that there’s many things to take into consideration before you can move your operations online.

Michelle said: “When turning some elements, or indeed all, of your recruitment strategy digital, there are a wide range of things to consider, ensuring you build a robust digital recruitment strategy.”

Here are some things Michelle pinpointed:

What is digital recruitment? 

Michelle explained: “Digital recruitment isn’t just about posting job vacancies online, though that is part of it. It includes the use of digital technology to assist in the finding, attracting, analysing, selection, and hiring process of candidates.

“Depending on the scale of your organisation’s recruitment needs and the resources available, this could include hosting application forms online, the use of online or digital assessments, holding online interviews using video conferencing software, or even the use of end-to-end recruitment software to manage the whole process.”

Share Relevant Content 

Potential candidates are highly likely to search for information about your organisation online.

“You should ensure you have a page on your website dedicated to posting vacancies. In addition, you should consider producing content that will showcase to prospective employees what kind of company you are and why they should want to work there” said Michelle, adding: This content can be shared to blogs and social media, via an email newsletter, and through other partners such as recruitment agencies you use. 

Use Social Media

“Social media can be an excellent tool to market your business to current and potential customers” said Michelle.

However, she said it is essential this forms a “key element of any recruitment marketing strategy”.

“In addition to sharing your targeted recruitment content on social media, it can be used to post job vacancies and link to downloadable application forms or bespoke online application processes, with many platforms now having specific jobs posts that are visually distinctive” said Michelle.

Advertise Online 

Michelle advised: “Your vacancies should be posted on a range of online platforms such as your company website, social media, and digital job boards. There are a variety of paid and free digital platforms available, so you need to know how to target the type of candidates you’re after and how to keep records of the vacancies you post – remember that all employment legislation still applies, regardless of whether you use traditional or digital recruitment.”

Digital Applications 

The first step in going digital is providing a PDF or digital download of an application form that is submitted via email.

“You should still allow for paper-based applications to be submitted, where possible, so you aren’t discriminating against certain age groups or individual skillsets” said Michelle.

“This is particularly important for industry sectors where ICT skills are not a priority and access could be an issue. However, most candidates will welcome an online as opposed to written application process. 

“As an alternative to a digital download, you could build a digital application process. These can be bespoke, or through a software package that is specifically for this purpose. Make sure the application process is easy to navigate, that users can save their progress and come back later, and that the system generates a notification to let the candidate know that their application has been received.”

Create A Feedback Loop

Michelle explained: “This simply means asking candidates for feedback on your recruitment process so you can improve it. During, or at the end of, the recruitment process, you could use anonymous online survey software to ask candidates a range of questions about their experience. This needs to be offered to every candidate to ensure the feedback process is continuous and that feedback is as broad as possible.” 

Be Consistent 

“If your company declares that it is innovative and forward thinking, but still uses a cumbersome paper-based application process and does not acknowledge receipt of applications, the process conflicts with the image your company is trying to portray” said Michelle.

“Reduce cognitive dissonance and increase trust with your candidates by making sure your processes match your brand values.”

For more information email Michelle at info@tysonwilsonrecruitment.co.uk or go to tysonwilsonrecruitment.co.uk