Sales & Marketing Authority, Bestselling Author & Business Motivational Speaker

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Following the spree of riots and looting which swept across Britain’s towns and cities during early August, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have come under scrutiny by the national press for the part they had to play in the cause of the violence which erupted on the streets earlier this month.

Social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger are claimed to have been used by rioters to encourage others to join in the destruction, organise meeting places and times for the riots to occur in different towns and cities and to keep in touch with each other via real-time messages in order to operate as a unit.

So far three social media users in their early twenties have been brought to justice for attempting to organise and encourage riots in their home towns, with some receiving four year sentences for online incitement via the creation of Facebook pages and events.

In the aftermath of the riots, representatives from Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry met with police officers and government officials to discuss they ways in which they could prevent future violence being initiated through these social networking sites. The meeting resulted in talk of disconnecting some online and telecommunication services if a similar problem was to arise in the future.

Social media has become such a popular and natural way for people in the 21^st Century to communicate with one another, so it’s not surprising to see how the violence and unrest which swamped the UK over a four-day period recently was so openly discussed online, as well as becoming an integral tool in helping to fuel the fire behind the riots.

It is not how this situation came to be so much, but whether the detection and response to online incitement should have been more predominant during the riots? Another key questions falls with the severity of the sentences given to those who chose to use social media to encourage violence and disruption within a nationwide platform – are they fair sentences for the crime committed? Take into consideration that it was incitement to do harm rather than the act of actually committing the crime, and on the flip side consider the scale of people who these messages are distributed to?

Social media has the power to influence, formulate ideas on a global scale and encourage trends with those who use it regularly. That’s how powerful social media is as a communication tool, so just imagine the ways was you could use Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to advance your online presence….but for the good of course!

Happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Sales Expert - Motivational Speaker

To mark the launch of my new book “eselling” in July I have just recorded a special 60 minute training session on the nuts and bolts of the approach.

eselling is unlike anything you have seen before so please download the online training session here.

You can also be notified when the book is out too as I am going to be giving away a lot of goodies and sales training material on the launch date!

Thanks again

Sean

PS Here’s the link to gain immediate access to the free sales training

 In all, my newsletters, tips and general advice go out to over 60,000 people each and  every   month.

I receive tons of replies each month from ranging from questions about how to improve their business through to compliments on what I have written or indeed disagreements about what I have written too.

Throughout April 2011 I was receiving a different kind of email from UK small business owners:

“Sean, is business as bad for all of the other small businesses that you know as it is for me in April? I’m being wiped out here”

You see, April 2011 was a killer for small business. Time and time again, no matter who I spoke to said the same.

In a time when small business needed a hand up to help them fight the downturn, April, or more the logistics of April were simply a killer.

Here’s why:

1. The Half Term Exodus

More people took time off with their kids than ever before. This started at the beginning of April. For my own daughter, she had over 2 1/2 weeks off! This hurts business 2 business transactions as the decision makers are not in the office and the info gatherers are not their too. Business is put on hold – either new business development or for those who are waiting upon decisions to be made. For my own business for example we were waiting on a “yes” or a “no” for over £250,000 worth of business but “Mr X was away on holiday” so it will be early May when a decision is made. For some businesses that could mean the difference between success and closing down.

2. Easter!

Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday meant that no-one was around in business during that time which leads me on to…

3. The Royal Wedding!

Today is the Royal Wedding! For those workers canny enough, they took off the Good Friday the Bank Holiday Monday and then booked off the Tues, Weds & Thurs leading up to the Royal Wedding. Hence returning on Tuesday 3rd May. They would have had off 22nd April to 3rd May and only took up 3 days holiday! Now, that’s a killer for business!

4. April Is The End Of The Financial Year

For some companies their budgets and accounts co-incide with the financial year end of 5 April and hence April is a month of taking stock, revising and finalising budgets before any expenditure is granted again.

So how was April for you?

Of course there will always be some success stories. If so, what did you do to negate the impact? If not, what impact has April had on your business?

Would be interested in your thoughts so please comment below

Live, Love and Laugh!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Please Click Here For The Same Internet Marketing Cheat Sheets That I Use For My Business

Take a look at this video of Anthony Robles who is a one-legged Wrestling champion!

Insiprational!

Enjoy and get inspired!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker - Internet Marketing Consultant