Standing: Mona Remtulla, Reena Ranger Sitting: Rupa Ganatra, Farzana Baduel, Sunny Hundal

Rupa Ganatra talked about the use of social media in the recent electoral campaign of Narendra Modi in India and how he was engaging and having a conversation with millions of people every day through its use. She emphasised how one must engage with their clients and customers; always using relevant interesting content and ensuring 80% of your post was content and 20% a sales pitch. From banker to internet entrepreneur she spoke about how she ensured that content was fun, applicable and interesting on her sites and that people should take advantage of analytical tools available to them and how many are inbuilt into many sites free for consumption.

Farzana Baduel provided a full and insightful talk into social media and the benefits to the business. She said that often for certain businesses social media may not generate leads or revenue, but it is a medium for communication with your clients. There are other avenues to generate credible sales leads such as Search Engine optimisation and one should not be put off or afraid of utilising them. She went on to say that in her opinion twitter is like having a baby. You cannot have it and leave it, it is a long term relationship with a huge learning curve. She herself had gone full circle from disliking and not understanding the platform to loving it! Farzana specialises in social media for her company as well as for her clients in an interesting, applicable and with a tailored view and each campaign must be seen with fresh eyes and looked at in an imaginative way to maximise effect.

Sunny Hundal talked about social media and his journey. How told the audience how he started as a blogger after feeing constrained by mainstream media. He shared tips on blogging learnt from his own experiences and mentioned that blogs should be short and interesting. He also spoke about ensuring content on social media should be applicable and relevant and went on to advise on what should be avoided when posting on sites. He went on to speak about how the internet and social media can be extremely useful in making a name for yourself or promoting your cause.