Date: May 2014

Meet Ronan Farrow; the son of actress Mia Farrow and filmmaker Woody Allen. He’s also a journalist, lawyer and former U.S. government advisor. In his position many would have submitted to nepotism and explored the bright lights of Hollywood, but not Farrow, the 26-year-old is busy using his business acumen and social capital to change the world.

Ronan Farrow is a Social Entrepreneur, the hungry breed of Generation Y philanthropists. They are a group of marketing and tech-savvy movers and shakers (typically, PR pros) that find innovative solutions to solve the world’s most pressing social problems, and Farrow is just one of them leading the way. Here’s a look at four other social entrepreneurs shaping the way we look at business, and its ability to shape our future for the better:

There are many advantages of being single; you can do what you want when you want, you will never wake to snoring, and you never need to get out of your pajama's if you don't feel like it.

You can kiss as many boys as you wish, decide on the spare of the moment to fly abroad, and eat baked beans on toast without having to consider another.

As seen in LinkedIn:

When examining Marketing Eye’s culture, one idea usually sticks out at people; that is, our stance on bad ideas. Taking a unique approach (remembering nothing we do here is status quo), I encourage my team to share their ideas daily; the great, the good and the terrible.

Why? Because I firmly believe there is value in bad ideas.

If you look in to the journey behind the biggest accomplishments in the world, they’re littered with bad ideas. In fact, it’s the mishaps, the arduous trial and error procedure that leads to greatness. A bad idea simply paves the way for a new and improved one. Bad ideas are often discouraged and quickly discounted as failures, but in reality, they identify solutions.

I need my team; from the marketing managers to the interns, to feel that they have an open forum to exchange their ideas freely; we are, after all, a creative company. And during a consultancy, our marketing managers will implore our clients to lay all of their ideas on the table. And often we harvest gold from the very idea our clients are hesitant to tell us.

I know - when you shut down the idea on bad ideas, you close it on future good ones too.

This time last month US Airlines were left red-faced when an employee replied to a customer with a cryptic tweet, accompanied by an image of a woman and a very strategically placed toy aeroplane.  Understandably, this social media marketing blunder horrified the world and the image went viral.  In addition, the airline’s bizarre apology was retweeted over 12,000 times. 

The PR fallout from this ill-advised US Airlines post served as a reminder of the power of social media and how it can cause irrevocable damage to a company’s brand. 

Here are the six lessons to learn from this PR plane crash, and other social media disasters:

Yesterday, I spoke at Cebit 2014 on sales process automation.

It was an interesting topic because so many Australian companies have yet to realise just how much more efficient their sales process can be through sales automation and the ROI in terms of revenue acquired because of having an effective sales process automation system in place.

Collaborating CRM, marketing automation, workflow automation and email marketing, sales process automation is one of the most important areas for businesses to focus on in 2014. 

Why marketing automation is more than just a buzzword; it’s a way businesses can flirt with customers.

You walk in to your favourite restaurant and immediately, something beautiful captures your attention.  Summoning all of your courage, you walk over to that breathtaking prospect and begin your introduction.  I’ll stop you right there - I’m not talking about a man!  I’m describing a potential new client, and that instantaneous attraction of making a new connection.  Similar to dating, you must approach business like you would a potential mate. 

Yes, I’m encouraging you to flirt with your customers.