Social Entrepreneurship & Social Media Marketing Go Together Sonny Gray Jersey , Like Peanut Butter & Jelly Business Articles | September 23, 2009
This article shows how a social entrepreneur can use social media marketing techniques to inexpensively overcome obstacles and achieve success. It provides a five-step system for identifying a cause, crafting a business plan, securing funding, implementing the plan, securing financial funding, and monitoring for success.
Why have so many people risked everything to undertake new ventures Anthony DeSclafani Jersey , when over half of all new businesses fail within five years? Until the late 20th Century, the answer was simple--the lure of riches and being your own boss. However, a new breed of social entrepreneur is combining societal and environment concerns with wealth creation. Today, more and more people are finding innovative ways to make capitalism work for them, their communities, and the environment.
Many social entrepreneurs still dream of making money and being their own bosses by forming traditional sole proprietorships or corporations, while others join together in nonprofit cooperatives. Nonetheless Matt Kemp Jersey , they are all united by a single purpose?to improve the world, either through environmental or societal advances. Despite the altruistic goals, social entrepreneurs are just as driven and ambitious as conventional businesspeople to deliver groundbreaking solutions.
For example, social entrepreneurs build low cost shelters for the poor from recyclable materials, develop inexpensive solutions to widespread health problems, create water cleaning systems for drought-stricken areas, bring educational resources to remote regions Joey Votto Jersey , promote the arts to the underprivileged, and develop efficient means to transport freight and people over rugged terrain.
Social entrepreneurship success stories abound, such as Wendy Kopp, who launched, Teach for America, a highly successful movement to eliminate educational inequity in the nation by signing up the most promising college graduates to teach in low income communities. Since 1989, Teach for America has recruited Jose Iglesias Jersey , trained, and supported over 17,000 recent graduates in teaching for two years in economically depressed districts.?
Mimi Silbert, founded Delancey Street, one of the foremost residential self-help organizations in the country, working with everyone from the illiterate and homeless to junkies and ex-convicts. Delancey Street equips those who have hit bottom with marketable skills in just six months. The organization is financially self-sufficient, with most of its funding coming from the businesses founded by Delancey Street graduates Scooter Gennett Jersey , such as moving companies, restaurants, and delivery services.
Although there is no single path to becoming a successful social entrepreneur, the following five steps provide a roadmap that can markedly boost your odds of success:?
1. Find a cause that inspires and holds a profitable solution
The first, and perhaps the most important, step to becoming a successful social entrepreneur is to identify an environmental or social ill that motivates you to act. However, that?s just half of the challenge; the other half is to find a profitable solution to the problem. Even nonprofit organizations must survive financially Barry Larkin Jersey , so you must secure an ongoing means to fund your venture. It is worth noting that government grants come and go, while revenues from selling products and services tend to be a more consist source of money.
2. Craft a solid business plan
Whatever form of social entrepreneurship you wish to pursue, certain elements must be present for it to succeed. Research shows that poor planning and insufficient financing are the two major reasons businesses fail. Fortunately, creating a well researched and carefully thought out business plan can go a long way to ensuring success. Creating a business plan forces you to consider your organization?s fundamental mission and its objectives, as well as whom you want to serve, their unmet needs, and how to organize your marketing mix to satisfy those needs. In addition Joe Morgan Jersey , a good business plan provides operational details, financial forecasts, and spells out how to monitor performance and adjust course accordingly.
3. Securing financing
Without question, the most significant challenge a social entrepreneur faces is finding the necessary funding to launch and sustain a new enterprise. In addition to traditional equity and lending sources, social entrepreneurs can seek assistance from the following organizations:
·?????? Ashoka provides funding and support services to social entrepreneurs
·?????? Echoing Green offers seed capital and support to entrepreneurs with pioneering ideas to bring about social change.
·?????? Skoll Foundation invests with social entrepreneurs primarily through its Skoll Awards for Entrepreneurship and connects them with key people and resources that can advance their causes.
·?????? Tides Foundation partners with social entrepreneurs to promote economic, social, environmental progress through a variety of efforts Johnny Bench Jersey , including fiscal sponsorship.
·?????? Schwab Foundation identifies, connects, works with selected companies to advance specific social entrepreneurial initiatives.
4. Be smart in implementing your plan
Since social entrepreneurs are especially cash-strapped, with little or no money to finance their operations, marketing, and delivery of services, they must exploit the least expensive and most effective strategies and tactics. Most importantly Throwback Cincinnati Reds Jerseys , social entrepreneurs must efficiently find the people and communities they seek to serve and identify their unmet needs.
This is where social media marketing comes into play. Social media marketing enables organizations to identify a