IBM UK & Ireland was named Stonewall Top Employer of 2010 earlier this year so we thought it was worth taking a deeper look at why, and what examples they’re setting for everyone else.

Being the first to win the award twice (they first received the award in 2007) IBM were disappointed to have slipped down the ranks, and so following the 2009 Workplace Equality Index and the feedback received from it IBM set about making more changes to their company to make them even more pro-gay.

And that all began with a new and robust action plan which has seen IBM’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender sales team be expanded to make sure that IBM truly does offer an open and inclusive workplace.

It hasn’t though just been about expanding the amount of LGBT people in the company. IBM are also committed to making sure LGBT employees feel they are being treated equally and IBM have covered that too with their network group, Employee Alliance for GLBT Empowerment (EAGLE), working in partnership with their Diversity & Inclusion Team to come up with a strategy that promises just that, and  these are token decisions that are soon forgotten, EAGLE leaders will discuss and share best practices across the European division and also participate in regular GLBT Council community calls to see what else they can do and learn.

One example of this work is collaboration on the EAGLE Value Proposition which acted to evaluate the network group in relation to the support offered to staff and the business. With line managers central to how gay employees feel about their experiences at work, IBM have made sure that these managers are equipped with how to deal and work with diverse teams through intensive training, case studies on gay employees and specific policies aimed at the LGBT community. On top of this IBM also work hard to try and push out the equality issue beyond their own company by working with suppliers to try and get them to see the value of not seeing your LGBT employees as another minority group you have to contend with, but one that when treated in an equal and respectful way can add incredible value to your company.

Sounds pretty impressive doesn’t it? But the reality is what IBM is doing isn’t difficult. It isn’t even that time consuming. It’s just about recognising that when you give to your employees and show they respect them they give back too. Sounds like a pretty good deal to us….

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At 24 years of age, young, hot New York entrepreneur Eyal Feldman set out to create a personal male lubricant that would be as slick and long-lasting as silicon-based lubricants and clean up as easily as those that are water-based.

He found his answer in a vegetable oil and silicone fusion-based product he termed Boy Butter. Becoming an instant hit, Boy Butter became an instant hit  gaining mainstream popularity, and earning the brand coverage in places such as Saturday Night Live, Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MadTV, Comedy Central’s Daily Show and Talk Soup on E!.

Seven years later, Boy Butter  continues a one-man show, with Eyal still at the helm with the product now sold in countless brick-and-mortar and online retail stores, including Walgreens and Amazon.com. Not only the creator Eyal is also the face of the product, appearing in most of Boy Butter’s ads and appearing frequently on many radio outlets.

Offering close to 10 different products which include the hugely popular Boy Butter Extreme desensitizing lubricant and You’ll Never Know it Isn’t Boy Butter, which is condom-safe. In addition to lubricant, the brand has also  just released a new male enhancement pill, Bonerz, as well a  female-friendly lubricant.

But enough about the products, what we want to know about is the man behind this amazing lubricant empire and what inspired him to get to where he is today.

You first founded Boy Butter when you were 24 years old, quite an accomplishment for someone so young! What gave you the drive to start your own business?

Ever since I graduated college I felt I wanted to go into business. My father is an entrepreneur, and I wanted to work for myself too. Being my own boss is amazing. Along with the necessary discipline and self-improvement, there is also the payoff of financial freedom, liberty, and my business becomes a vehicle for bettering my life.

Boy Butter has now gone on to become a major player in the personal lubricant industry, having appeared on major TV shows, such as Saturday Night Live and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. When did you first realize the brand had become a household name? How did you feel?

I knew from the first day that I uttered the name “Boy Butter” that it would be a success, because the name is hilarious and held such great potential for the market. Boy Butter can be both a novelty product and a seriously good and useful product for personal use. It fulfills so many needs for so many, especially gay men. People love the name, and as soon as you make a customer smile or laugh, a sale will soon follow. I produce an excellent product that is the perfect combination of good marketing, novelty and utility. I feel ecstatic about Boy Butter. It is endless with legs and extensions, and will always be a fun product to deal with, on so many levels.

There was also a need to resurrect cream-form lubricants from the 1970s and early 80s which were shelved due to not being latex-safe. Since creams traditionally are oil-based and “Safe Sex” became necessary, the market became latex-safe and water-based lubricant dominant.

What makes Boy Butter stand out from other lubricant brands on the market today?

Boy Butter stands out in several ways. Firstly, we present Boy Butter Lubricants in non-sexual food type packaging, because it disarms any sexual squeamishness in people and makes it a true novelty product fit for the best gag gift or bedroom necessity. Secondly, in the sense of the actual lubricant itself, Boy Butter Lubricants comes in a cream form. We have both oil-based (Original Boy Butter) and water-based styles (You’ll Never Know it Isn’t Boy Butter, the first ever stable water-based and latex-safe cream lubricant we invented in late-2006), which are totally latex and vaginally safe; a first with cream lubricants. I love creams best because they last longer than water-based lubricants, feel better on the skin and best of all wash off with water alone. The easy clean up means no more “shame stains” on surfaces or fabrics that are associated with overpowering and messy silicone lubricants.

Boy Butter’s consistency is much different from other brands — it is creamy, and just as the title describes, like butter. What benefit do those who use Boy Butter gain from using a lubricant with this type of texture and viscosity?

Creams can last almost as long as silicone lubricants, feel more natural and wash off as easy as any water based lubricant. It has all the benefits without any of the drawbacks from other lubricants on the market.

You now have quite a few different lines, including a warming lubricant, an extreme desensitizing liquid, a female-friendly lubricant called Lucky, and variations of most of those, which are water-based, called H2O. How often do you released new lines, and what is your most popular line to date?

We come out with new products or sizes every six months to a year. To date we have almost 30 different products, sizes and styles. Our most popular product is still the Original 16-ounce Boy Butter, the first product I ever came out with. But the desensitizing is a close second and third in popularity. People love the desensitizing for many reasons: they either want to increase the comfort associated with sexual penetration or they simply want to combat the ill and annoying effects of premature ejaculation.

Boy Butter also just released a product called Bonerz, which is a male enhancement pill. What gave you the inspiration to put out a non-lubricant product? Do you feel it detracts from the focus of what your brand is known for, or do you think it helps?

No not at all. I love Boy Butter Bonerz. It is a non-lubricant, which enhances our lubricant products, because male enhancement goes hand-in-hand, pun intended, with lubricant use. I’ll tell you, since the advent of male enhancement products like Viagra back in 1999, it revolutionized and quadrupled the personal lubricant industry, causing a real need to deal with all that extra friction.

What does a gay male consumer look for in a lubricant, that is different from a straight male? Or is it the same across the board?

Gay men usually will go for a longer-lasting product and are more open to varied types of lubricants, and straight men generally look for lubricants that are safe to use with women. Women self-lubricate so that alleviates much of the need for lubricants for straight men.

Why did you decide to start a line called Lucky, that caters to a woman’s needs? How do you feel about older people using your product? What made you choose that specific name?

When we created the first cream lubricant that was water-based, it became the first cream lubricant that women could use vaginally. Some older women do not lubricate sufficiently and really need long-lasting lubricants. I decided to expand to that market and I thought Lucky was a simple and clear name. Older people are the fastest growing segment of the population that is becoming more sexually active and like I said, previously Viagra changed the world and created so many more people with personal lubricant needs that did not exist before, I wanted to reach them.

If you could pick three celebrity spokesmen for your brand, who would you pick?

Well, Kathy Griffin because she is so gay friendly, Mel Gibson because he creates so much friction, and Lady Gaga because she is the bee’s knees.

What can loyal Boy Butter users expect to see from the brand next?

I think that a pink-labeled girl version of Boy Butter called Boy Butter for Girls is due next.

Hedda Lettuce is so much fun to watch when she does commercials for Boy Butter. MMM MOMMY! Will she be doing any more?

Oh absolutely! We love Hedda Lettuce because, like Boy Butter, she is the fusion of beauty and novelty.

What is your personal favorite Boy Butter product?

I love Boy Butter original because it makes masturbation and sex feel incredible.

A new report by Community Marketing Inc, a San Francisco based company, has acted to examine the attitudes and media usage of gay and lesbian consumers, and discovered that whilst other sectors may have been hard hit by the global recession, the gay and lesbian community are one of the most lucrative markets to be targeting. One element of the report showing this clearly concerned a question about what big purchases had beem made in the last year with 29% had bought a new laptop and 26% had bought an HD television set. On top of that respondents has also bought PDA/smart phones, cars and new desktop computers. 

LGBT Focused Advertising Just Isn’t Working

A discovery that may surprise many is specific LGBT focused ads didn’t have the strong impact that marketers might imagine, with only 22% saying their purchasing decisions were influenced on advertising in LGBT magazines and newspapers, 21% by those who using LGBT spokespeople and 18% from companies advertising on LGBT websites. There was however a different factor that had a much bigger influence on whether the LGBT community would buy from a company, and that wasn’t how they targeted the gay community – it was how they looked after it with company’s employment practices (“such as non-discrimination in hiring or recognition of domestic partners”) influencing 45% of respondents, whilst 42% were influenced by “companies actively promote gay-friendly policies” in that category, and 37 percent ny companies supporting “LGBT political causes.”

Asked why the he believed LGBT media had such a small impact on buying decisions David Paisley, the senior projects director at Community Marketing said

“I think there is a combination of issues here…First, gay men and lesbians don’t necessarily look at the LGBT media every week. The number of LGBT print and Internet media is such a small fraction of the overall media. Also, when you go to an LGBT Web site, many of the ads are somewhat generic, and don’t necessarily qualify as ‘targeted LGBT.’”

The report also indicated that as well as LGBT print and internet media only making up a small proportion of all media, respondents were far more impressed by companies who didn’t act to hide away their targeted gay and lesbian advertising in niche publications, but instead produced general market advertising that reflected diversity and inclusion in society. One example of this was the Kaiser Permanente ad (which ran in Time magazine) which showed a photo of widely assortment people including a gay couple holding their child, with Paisley commenting

“That type of ad tests through the roof,”

How Does The LGBT Community Use Media?

Concerning the kind of media that the LGBT community use, the report discovered that over 70% watch television every day, with 61% listening to the radio, 51% using mainstream websites and 40% reading daily mainstream newspapers. Again though it discovered LGBT focused media was less popular with LGBT internet sites only being looked at daily by 21% of people and LGBT blogs only gaining 11%.

In terms of media used over a week, the internet did however come out top with an average of 13.1 hours, with television and music coming second and third. In terms of the first, online social networking has become a lot more popular, but isn’t necessarily the best target for marketing to the community with only 12% saying they used them to research products and services, whilst 63% went to communicate with friends.

However whilst it may suitable as the only source of advertising, it doesn’t mean it should be ignored completely, especially for those marketing to gay men, as the research showed 25% of gay men and 14% of lesbians responded to ads on mainstream sites, with that rising to 30% for gay men on LGBT blogs/social sites.

Changing Attitudes, Changing Advertising?

Attitudes to the LGBT community have changed steadily over the last couple of decades, and this has lead to different generations of the LGBT community being influenced by different forms of marketing. Older generation, for example, are likely to be more receptive to more LGBT targeted promotion, however the younger generation who feel more supported by society as a whole, are according to Paisley:

“…far less interested in the gay and lesbian media or being labeled in any way.”

Saying that they’d found the perfect place to market to a 25 year old gay man was not through a LGBT website but instead through social media sites like Facebook, it indicates that there is no longer a single marketing approach to suit all of the community.

Open But Still Proud

Whilst the report indicates the LGBT community is a lot more open to more general advertising, it also clearly shows a commitment to supporting the LGBT community with gays and lesbians passionate about boycotting companies that they felt had supported anti gay causes.

Stonewall has released it’s 2010 Top 100 Employers list which acts to highlight the most gay friendly employers in Britain which this year has seen IBM taking the top spot, with the Hampshire Constabulary coming in second and accountancy firm Ernst & Young coming in third. Ernst & Young were also winners in the category of Employee Network Group of The Year whilst Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust was awarded the prize of Most Improved Employer.

Basing The Work Equality Index on a number of different indicators, the 2010 survey is the largest yet with over 7000 employees participating and saw IBM revealed as consistently having the highest staff satisfaction levels. The survey was also able to reveal that the levels of satisfaction at the top 25 in the list were almost as much as 10 percent higher than companies based outside of the Top 100. In terms of being out and open at work, the survey found that people were also more likely to disclose their sexual orientation in monitoring exercises at the highest ranking organisations.

IBM have long been known as being a supportive environment for the LGBT community and this win sees them take the top spot for the second time in four years, but don’t think that this means they have not acted to progress and improve over these four years because quite the opposite is true as the minimum score on the Top 100 had increased by ten percent meaning IBM had to have raised it’s came to win. This is the second time in four years that IBM has been named the most gay-friendly employer. Their success reflects the effectiveness of continual improvement as the minimum score to win a place on the 2010 Top 100 was ten per cent higher.

The results of  the 2010 Stonewall Top Employers list were announced at a winner’s ceremony, hosted by international law firm Simmons & Simmons, in London on the 13th January, with the Stonewall Chief Executive, Ben Summerskill saying ‘Competition was fiercer than ever to secure a place on the 2010 Top Employers List … We received more entries than any previous year from employers who understand and have benefited from Stonewall’s research which found that gay people are far more likely to buy goods or services from companies they know are gay-friendly. The Index is a powerful tool used by Britain’s 1.7 million gay employees and 150,000 gay university students to decide where to take their talent and skills.’

The winners of the awards also spoke of what the awards meant to their company with the Chief Executive Officer  of IBM UK & Ireland, Brendon Riley saying: ‘IBM is extremely proud to accept this important accolade. In 2009 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of IBM’s global LGB non-discrimination policy – but we’re constantly looking for new ways to enrich and broaden the scope of what we can achieve. At IBM, we pride ourselves on delivering a working environment which reflects equality of opportunity and experience for all. Diversity constitutes our character, our identity and ultimately our success – it is in our DNA.’

Mike Cooke, Chief Executive, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. said ‘Nottinghamshire Healthcare is delighted to receive this award … It reflects the commitment and hard work of our staff, service users and carers in championing a culture of fairness; where equality and diversity are central to everything we do. We believe that our participation in the Workplace Equality Index will be of real benefit to our staff and the people who use our services.” whilst Cameron Cartmell of Ernst & Young said ” am thrilled that EYGLES has been awarded Employee Network Group of the Year … It’s wonderful to work for a firm where I can be myself and EYGLES has been a key part in achieving this. I’ve been particularly impressed with the way EYGLES has influenced the broader diversity and inclusiveness agenda at Ernst & Young.’

The full list of the 100 top gay friendly employers were:

1 IBM
2 Hampshire Constabulary
3 Ernst & Young
4 Brighton & Hove City Council
5 Goldman Sachs
6 Home Office
7 London Borough of Tower Hamlets
8 Manchester City Council
9 Kent Police
9 Nacro
11 Environment Agency for England & Wales
11 London Borough of Islington
13 Merseyside Police
13 Transport for London
15 Simmons & Simmons
16 Gentoo Group
17 East Sussex County Council
17 Foreign & Commonwealth Office
19 Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
19 West Midlands Police
21 Metropolitan Police Service
22 Barclays
23 Cheshire Constabulary
23 Greater Manchester Police
25 London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority
25 West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service
27 Metropolitan Housing Partnership
27 National Offender Management Service
29 Ford
30 Accenture
30 Newcastle City Council
32 Leicestershire County Council
32 Newham College
34 Staffordshire Police
34 Sussex Police
36 Credit Suisse
36 Gloucestershire County Council
36 Pinsent Masons
39 British Transport Police
39 Deloitte LLP
41 Shaw Trust
42 Scottish Government
43 Kirklees Council
43 London Borough of Hackney
45 HM Revenue & Customs
45 NHS Tower Hamlets
47 Lancashire Constabulary
47 National Assembly for Wales
47 Sheffield City Council
50 London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
50 North Wales Police
50 Suffolk Constabulary
50 Thames Valley Police
54 Aviva plc
54 Suffolk County Council & Customer Service Direct
56 Herbert Smith LLP
56 Ministry of Justice
58 American Express
58 Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
60 Birmingham City Council
60 Hertfordshire Constabulary
60 Procter & Gamble UK
63 Crown Prosecution Service
63 Derbyshire County Council
63 PricewaterhouseCoopers
63 Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
67 East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service
67 J.P. Morgan
67 Morgan Stanley
70 Gloucestershire Fire & Rescue Service
70 Ministry of Defence Police & Guarding Agency
70 North East Ambulance Service
73 Ministry of Defence
73 West Mercia Constabulary
75 Cardiff Council
75 Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
75 National Audit Office
75 National Grid
79 Imperial College London
79 The Co-operative
79 West Yorkshire Police
82 Berneslai Homes
82 Bury Council
82 London Borough of Waltham Forest
85 Department of Health
85 Eversheds LLP
85 Liverpool John Moores University
88 Citizens Advice
88 Warwickshire County Council
90 Cambridgeshire County Council
90 Your Homes Newcastle
92 Cambridge City Council
92 Skillset Sector Skills Council
92 Victim Support
95 Land Registry
95 Royal Bank of Scotland Group
97 Blackpool Council
97 Department for International Development
97 Knowsley Housing Trust
100 Nottinghamshire County Council

You can find out more about The Workplace Equality Index via the Stone Top 100 Employers 2010 PDF which is available to download on the Stonewall website.

Fed up with all the business networking events you attend being full of heterosexuals who don’t have any understanding of the LGBT community and what you can offer them, and they can offer you in return?

It’s time to do things differently and make your next business networking event A Village Drinks event, and what better way is there to start off the year at the That’s Right Up Your Alley event on the 26th January 2010.

Taking place at All Star Lanes in Brick Lane, London, this event celebrates the launch of the new Village Drinks American website, and for a mere £10 will have you taken back to the 1950s in America from the moment you work through those glass doors.

Beginning at 6.30pm and going on till late, Village Drunks have taken over the whole venue meaning you have 2 bars, 4 private bowling lines, a private bar, a dance floor and private lounge for your socialising and networking pleasure, and the people there are definitely going to appreciate what you do as Village Drinks is a networking group purely for gay, lesbian and bisexuals.

And don’t worry if bowling isn’t your thing as there’s also free use of the karaoke rooms and also the opportunity to ensure some stunning drink specials, a full bar, great music, and a food menu.

Complimentary drinks are available until 8pm, with a gorgeously relaxed networking experience guaranteed thank to the subtle background lounge music that accompanies all Village Drinks events. Once the clock hits 8pm though, it’s then time to have fun as their DJ starts to spin the music to add to the fun.

Sound like your kind of event? Make sure you sign up to the Village Drinks guest list now, and you’ll be guaranteed cheaper entry for you and all your guests!

Want to know what are the things that people have been really interested in this year? If you want to get a really good idea there’s no point in just checking out the news headlines, you need to go to the water cooler of the internet to see what we’ve been really whittering (or should that be twittering) on about.

News Events

From a news point of view, the Iran election and the alleged irregularities not only had people talking, but also had avatars turning green all over Twitter. Alongside this we all got scared of talking to each other in real life in case we got Swine Flu and turned into pigs, got all a bit excited about Obama becoming president and then a few flakes of snow fell and every mode of transport failed to work leaving the whole of the United Kingdom wishing they had more than tinned custard in their cupboards.

1. #iranelection
2. Swine Flu
3. Gaza
4. Iran
5. Tehran
6. #swineflu
7. AIG
8. #uksnow
9. Earth Hour
10. #inaug09

People

The death of Michael Jackson had Twitter and the world in shock this year, and then just when everyone had recovered Adam Lambert decided to flick the shock switch again with his performance at the American Music Awards. Susan Boyle went from being a nobody still living in the family home at 47 to a global singing star, whilst Chris Brown went from being a singer to someone who hits his girlfriend. Tiger Woods crashed into a tree which was packed full of secret affairs that came spilling out, whilst Christian Bale had quite the opposite problem not being able to keep quiet when someone walked into his line of sight during a scene on the Terminator Salvation film.

1. Michael Jackson
2. Susan Boyle
3. Adam Lambert
4. Kobe (Bryant)
5. Chris Brown
6. Chuck Norris
7. Joe Wilson
8. Tiger Woods
9. Christian Bale
10. A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez)

Movies

Whilst Harry Potter and New Moon may be aimed at teenagers that didn’t stop Twitter going mad about these two films this year. Alongside this there was also plenty to interest the geeks in the form of  Star Trek and Transformers 2.

1. Harry Potter
2. New Moon
3. District 9
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Star Trek
6. True Blood
7. Transformers 2
8. Watchmen
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10. G.I. Joe

TV Shows

The UK’s X Factor might not have been able to get itself into the top ten in 2009, but American Idol did it easily coming in at the top spot, followed closely by the glorious Glee. Television Awards also got everyone excited with the Teen Choice Awards, Video Music Awards and BET Awards all getting people tweeting away.

1. American Idol
2. Glee
3. Teen Choice Awards
4. SNL (Saturday Night Live)
5. Dollhouse
6. Grey’s Anatomy
7. VMAS (Video Music Awards)
8. #bsg (Battlestar Galatica)
9. BET Awards
10. Lost

Sports (Teams, Events, Leagues)

Showing America’s dominance on Twitter is the fact that more than half of the most talked about sports events on Twitter were US based. However the UK did get some noticeable mentions in the form of Wimbledon, Chelsea and Liverpool.

1. Super Bowl
2. Lakers
3. Wimbledon
4. Cavs (Cleveland Cavaliers)
5. Superbowl
6. Chelsea
7. NFL
8. UFC 100
9. Yankees
10. Liverpool

Technology

It was all about waving on Twitter this year, Google Wave-ing to be exact, with everyone wanting an invite and then not sure how to use it once they had it. New operating systems for both the Apple (Snow Leopard) and PC (Windows 7) were also enough to get everyone excited. Oh and let’s not forget about the big #amazonfail that had everyone getting far too over-excited.

1. Google Wave
2. Snow Leopard
3. Tweetdeck
4. Windows 7
5. CES
6. Palm Pre
7. Google Latitude
8. #E3
9. #amazonfail
10. Macworld

Hash Tags

Before Twitter came along the hash tag had life easy, now the poor thing is in constant use whether it’s being used to highlight a news topic, as it was this year concerning the #iranelection and #swineflu, or just to entertain us all as we try to be the one to make up the wittiest tweet using hashtags such as #rememberwhen, #3drunkwords and #nevertrust.

1. #musicmonday
2. #iranelection
3. #sxsw
4. #swineflu
5. #nevertrust
6. #mm
7. #rememberwhen
8. #3drunkwords
9. #unacceptable
10. #iwish

Looking to really succeed in your business? These days if you’re not on all of the social media sites getting yourself known then you might as well resign yourself to having to lock up the office and handing the keys back to the landlord because all of your competitors are there building a merry band of fans, who unlike the customers you have, are willing to promote you to death without you even having to say a word or send an email.

So what are the key things you need to do to make sure your social media campaign is a success:

1. Make Yourself Useful

One of the best ways to make sure you’re a daily part of someone’s life is to make yourself useful to them, and the best way you can be that is by being focused on what you’re good at and know about.  A great example of this is Gary Vaynerchuk. More commonly known now as the Wine Guy, Gary is not only passionate about wine, but has a huge amount of knowledge about wine because that’s what he lives day in, day out. By utilising this, and not being afraid of giving away advice and information for free, Gary has made sure that he, and his company, Wine Library are right at the top of the list when you’re looking to lean about and buy wine online.

And he’s not afraid to use as many social media sites as he can get his hands on to get his message out. You’ll find him daily not only on his own Wine Library TV site but also updating his Twitter feed and interacting with fans on Facebook.

2. Keep Yourself Focused

As you make a name for yourself as being the expert in an industry it’s important that you stay focused. This doesn’t mean that you can’t tweet about a funny image you’ve found or post a link to a website you found funny on your Facebook wall, but it does mean sticking generally to what you know. Yes, Bob may be gaining huge amount of followers on Twitter and having articles written about him and his knowledge of hammers and screws, but if you’re more versed on vinyl records than tools you’re not going to succeed by suddenly going down an unknown direction. By all means observe the methods that other successful “experts” are using but make sure you stick to what you know about.

3.  Don’t Waste Your Time

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are great for building up your profile, but they’re also pretty good time thieves that’ll have you shaking your head in disbelief you’ve just been tweeting constantly for an hour.  It’s therefore important to make sure you’re making good use of your time. If you find that most people are corresponding with you in the middle of the afternoon then make sure you set time aside to be able to converse with them then instead of feeling you can’t because you wasted an hour earlier getting lost in all the drunken photos people have posted on Facebook from the weekend.

However having said that with social media it’s important to be flexible and update as and when things happen, but if you are considering updating sites regularly you might want to consider using a site like Ping.fm which will allow you to send updates to multiple sites, including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Linked In. This will mean you can keep fans constantly up to date with what you’re doing without you getting dragged into the fun of the sites themselves.

4. Make Yourself Known

Probably the most essential element in getting yourself a strong community is getting yourself known, because even if you know everything about a subject it’s not going to matter one bit if no one know who you are. And the bad news is there’s no quick fix to achieving this. If you really want to be known as the expert in your area then you need to be out there responding to questions, thoughts and ideas on your topic.

And this means hard work.

You’ll need to be setting up searches on search.twitter.com about your subject and becoming part of the conversation that people are having. You’ll also need to be joining Facebook groups and fan pages and participating in these.

Then there’s the blogs. Google Blogsearch is going to need to become a daily stop on your web browsing journey,and you’re going to need you to start commenting on the blogs on your topic. “Yes”, “No” and “I agree” are all out. You need to prove you know what you’re talking about, and that means reading posts and tweets in detail and responding to what is being said so people recognise you know what you’re on about, and aren’t just on an ego trip to get the most followers or most visits to your site.

5. Be Patient

As lovely as it would be for everything to click into place overnight it’s not going to happen. You need to be patient. None of us trust anyone straight away, we all need a bit of time to reassure ourselves this person really is as good as they seem, so it’s important that you hold this in your mind and don’t go proving everyone right in not trusting you straight away by suddenly going off down the spamming route after two weeks because you don’t feel you’re achieving. Stick to the plan and success will come from it.
the book, Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith). It’s not easy. So, even though you may be doing everything “right,” building community does takes time. You will be earning it one person at a time, and it’s important to stay the course (you can read more about this right here: In Praise Of Slow).

If you run a business, and aren’t yet on Twitter, then you’re missing out on a vital marketing channel that could have you  inundated with new fans. However before you jump in feet first, and end up getting yourself a reputation as a spammer, which sees you unfollowed just as quickly as you’re trying to follow everyone, you might want to check out this Twitter Survival Guide:

1. Don’t Make It All About Your Ego

It’s all too easy to get drawn into the “how many gazillion followers can I get” way of using Twitter, but the reality is if you’re using Twitter to benefit your business, this type of strategy is never going to work.

Why? Because firstly, you’re never going to be able to communicate with a gazillion followers on a personal basis, and will become lost and forgotten in their Twitter stream, and secondly it’s very unlikely that all of these gazillion followers are going to be interested in what you’re looking to market, with the success of any promotions going to be based on nothing more than a fingers crossed strategy.

If on the other hand, you have 1000 followers, who all love your milk chocolate strawberry ice creams, then it’s likely when you tweet about your latest buy one, get one free offer, you’re going to be inundated with orders, because you’ve just provided them with exactly what they want.

In Twenty Words Or Less: The follow everyone and hope someone is interested won’t work. Stay targeted.

2. Make People Desire What You Have To Offer

We’ve all got a couple of them on our Twitter stream – companies who just paste links to their products, with nothing to entice us apart from the name of the product, and if we’re lucky, the word “New” or “Reduced” in front of it.

I won’t deny that this might get them a sale or two, but what it’s unlikely to do, is get them any repeat business.

Why? Because they’ve only satisfied a need, they’ve not created any desire.

If you want people to really want what you have to offer, you have to make it desirable.

This means not only tweeting what your products / services are, but about them too.  So, if you’re someone who sells chocolate cakes, then tweet about the gorgeous wafts coming out of the kitchen, and how soft and luscious the cake is when you cut it. If you’re a party organiser, then tweet how much the guests loved dipping their marshmallows in that luxurious fountain of chocolate.

In Twenty Words Or Less: Don’t just tweet about what you offer, tweet about the experience.

3. Realise Tweeting Is About Engaging, Not Shouting

A common mistake that many businesses make is to treat Twitter as a giant billboard, posting adverts, then walking away hoping people will notice them as they pass through their Twitter stream. It’s a plan that destined to not only fail, but very quickly seen them unfollowed.

Why? Because this isn’t the way Twitter works. Twitter is all about engaging with your followers. It’s about having a conversation.

This means it’s not enough to just post your latest offer. You need to be finding out what other people are saying about you. And it’s not hard to do – type your company name into Twitter search and you’ll immediately find out just that – and don’t be afraid to respond to those criticising you. One quick apology / explanation, and you can easily turn a critic into a raving fan.

In Twenty Words Or Less: Twitter isn’t about you. It’s about you and your followers, so make sure you’re engaging with them.

4. Give People A Strong Reason To Follow You On Twitter

Twitter allows you immediate contact with your target market, so make sure you use it to your benefit.  Do fun and unusual things, that people will only find out about, by using Twitter.  Examples would be offer hour long  online discounts, on a whim, by giving them a special discount code only Twitter followers will know, or even telling them where your after work drinks are so they can meet the people behind the brand…

In Twenty Words Or Less: Use the immediacy of Twitter to make yourself stand out from the crowd.

5.  Don’t Confine Yourself To Just The Written Word

Back in the old days of Twitter, it was all about the 140 characters and nothing else. These days you can add a bit of colour and life to your tweets thanks to the multiple photo and video sharing sites that have sprung up. And if you’re not doing it already, you should, as these will really help bring your tweets to life.

Yes it’s cool to read about how beautiful the cake you’re decorating is looking, but it’s even better to be able to look at it!

In Twenty Words Or Less: Don’t confine yourself to text. Bring your tweets to life with photos and videos.

A new report from the US based Human Rights Campaign Foundation has discovered that 51% of lesbian, gay and transgender employees will try to hide their sexual orientation and gender identity from those working around them,

The report, “Degrees of Equality: A National Study Examining Workplace Climate for LGBT Employees,”  focused on the work experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and discovered that whilst the attitude towards the LGBT community have improved in recent years, many employees still viewed their workplace as a negative environment.

The report indicated that derogatory comments and jokes were the biggest indicator that there was still a hostility towards the LGBT community, with 58% of employees who’s workplace had a Equal Employment Opportunity policy still reporting derogatory comments were being made, with 9% saying this involved a direct supervisor.

However whilst others around them definitely played an impact, this report also indicated that this wasn’t the only reason that employees were not disclosing their sexuality or gender identity, with many interviewed stating they didn’t feel it wasn’t anyone else’s business, and some going on to say that they also didn’t want to make people feel uncomfortable, or be stereotyped by their sexual preference.

The Degrees of Equality : A National Study Examining Workplace Climate for LGBT Employees is available to read online at the Humans Right Campaign Foundation Website.