Women’s Network Australia Blog

Growing Your Online Business

Frankly these days if you don’t have an online presence you have no hope of succeeding in business. Over the past year I have spent a vast amount of my time soaking up everything I can about everything online.

At times it’s been a real struggle but I am so enjoying developing my new skills set. Very soon Women’s Network Australia will celebrate its 20th year and I know that for the organisation to be relevant and celebrating its 30th birthday we have to progress and build our online and multimedia functions.

For those who still question the success of online marketing take note of Sportsgirl’s Chief, Elle Roseby and what she has accomplished in the last 12 months. Imagine if she’d sat there relying on foot traffic into their stores. Doesn’t rate thinking about really!!

Social Web Attracts Women

Women are emerging as the queens of social online networking, according to a recent study by Rapleaf. Women have always been the biggest users of networking skills, nurturing relationships, exchanging info and igniting trade with each other. But this study reveals that women are currently the biggest users of the social web. 

The report is not small either, it includes 49.3 million users. It’s not surprising really, women are time poor and they have always enjoyed communicating and socialising more than men. The researchers indicate that men do network, but to get them interested networking needs to go hand in hand with transactions and outcomes. After all, why bother talking unless you have to?

If your website and eMarketing tools are still on the back burner in your ‘to do’ tray, you best get moving. The study shows that the emerging market of 14-24 year olds are currently the biggest users of the social web. Women outnumber  men 3 times in this age group with 16 million female users and 11.5 million male users in this demographic.

The lesson here is that if you run a business and have plans to be running a viable business in 5-10 years, you best get eMarketing and Social Web savvy. In the blink of an eye the  14-24 year olds will be 24-34 years of age. How are you going to connect with them is the question you need to be asking yourself.

Lynette Palmen AM is the Founder and Managing Director of Women’s Network Australia, the leading business and professional women’s networking organisation in the Nation. Subscribe FREE to WNA’s weekly eNoticeBoard.

Lessons from the Lion Cage

My daughter Maddison (11) astounds me with what she picks up on. Whilst in Melbourne recently we visited the Melbourne Zoo.  We had a great time,  it’s an amazing experience.

But at one point we were standing beside a couple and their two children, a boy maybe 5 and his older sister around 6. Maddison was in her usual form, she had her eyes on the lions feeding, with her ears flapping listening to what was going on around her. The child doesn’t miss a beat.  This particular couple had caught her attention. She had been watching them intently for some time. Apparently the mother had placed her daughter up on the fence to get a better view of the lions feeding. The husband had then quickly grabbed the little girl from the fence and protectively placed her on his hip,  giving his wife a look of complete disapproval.

This had intrigued Maddison. I might point out there was double fencing around the lion cage and the child was in no danger at all. Maddison starts digging me in the ribs wanting me to take note of the dynamics going on within this family of four. Unbelieveably, two mintues later the husband lifts his younger son up and places him in exactly the same position on the fence from where he had just removed his daughter.

He started proudly pointing out to his son that from this spot he could get a good view of the big cats who by now were tearing apart some sort of animal carcass.  Maddison looked at me in amazement and said, “Why is that man being so strange? How come that little girl was not allowed to have her go? Do you think she’ll ever be allowed to stand on the fence and see the lions? How come the girl has to miss out - it’s just not fair Mum.”

It dawned on me right there and then that there is an entire new generation of young women coming though who are being held back from what comes naturally - eagerly awaiting their turn to stand tall on the fence and get the full view of the lions feeding. You know that whilst there is much talk about discrimination towards women by employers, the subtle messages fed through parenting have so much more to answer for.

It’s a challenge I know, but the greatest gift we can give our daughters is to teach them equality from birth and give them opportunity and confidence to stand tall on the top of the fence. And as parents we need to keep our own fears and failures out of the equation.

Lynette Palmen AM is the Founder and Managing Director of Women’s Network Australia, the leading business and professional women’s networking organisation in the Nation. Subscribe FREE to WNA’s weekly eNoticeBoard service or read more about Lynette and why she started WNA.

Fraternising With The Competition - It’s Good for You.

I received an email recently seeking my networking guidance, it went on to ask… “I am a solicitor and thinking about becoming a member of a networking organisation, should I find out how many other solicitors are members of the group before I join and if there is too much competition? Melissa

Dear Melissa,
Even if the networking group you are considering joining had over 100 solicitors as current members you should NOT be using this to calculate the value you will gain from also joining. Fraternising with your competition can pay dividends. I’ll expand out with a few pointers on what I mean.

The 80/20 Rule:  Joining an organisation is easy for anyone to do, it’s what happens after and how actively you participate that will decide the outcomes of your networking activities. Only 20% of people can be bothered actually doing anything, so this wipes out 80% of your competition straight away. Read the rest…