CentreO Blog

We have all heard how beneficial networking can be to a small business. However, with the growing number of online networking platforms, we may be starting to ignore the benefits of face-to-face communication.

 We would like to draw your attention to a recent survey that highlights the surprising number of ways in which a small business can benefit from attending face-to-face networking events.

Benefit one: Filling in skill gaps

The survey was held across the UK and included over 430 networkers.

As 87% did admin to looking for leads and referrals, 52% said they also used networking events to find other businesses to collaborate with and 44% said they provided a useful support network.

There seems to be a growing trend among small businesses to work with other small businesses rather that hire employees. This gives them a chance to fill in any existing skill gaps and potentially take on bigger contracts.

Benefit two: Self-improvement and motivation

Nearly 60% of survey participants answered that they networked to learn new ideas and a quarter gained confidence and motivation from networking. A lot of networking events these days also include mini-workshops, discussion groups or expert lectures. This provides wonderful opportunities for people to come up with new ideas for their businesses, whilst meeting new contacts at the same time.

Benefit three: Socialising (in addition to networking)

A notable side-effect of the recession has been the increase in the numbers of people running a business from home. It minimizes the overheads and gives startups a better chance of success. But there is also a downside, as by working at home you miss out on that essential office banter and communication. And that can make you feel isolated. So networking events can help you break out of the routing, see some new faces and share business experiences.

For full details of the business networking events benefits survey, visit:

www.findnetworkingevents.com/survey

 

Chinese New Year is without a doubt the most celebrated occasion in of the year. The 31st of January signifies the start of the Lunar New Year, which this year symbolised by the zodiac of the Horse. The holiday celebrations run for 15 days ending at the start of the Spring Lantern Festival.

How are business opening hours in the New Year?

Most government offices, banks and public utilities will be closed from 31 January to 3 February, as these are public holidays in Hong Kong. Most shops and restaurants in the busiest districts will be open, while some shopping malls may even extend their service hours. Major attractions, theme parks and public transport will operate as usual. Street markets and stalls will usually close on the first and second day of the Chinese New Year (31 January & 1 February 2014), and resume business from the third day (2 February).

At Centre O, we will be closed from the 31st of January to the 3rd of February, 4th of February onwards, we will be operating at usual.

Wishing all of you and your loved ones to be blessed with great health, good fortune and may you have a wonderful holiday. Happy New Year!

 

Chinese New Year is ever so close. We would like use this occasion to introduce you to the latest and cutest wine  – To-Fu Oyako White Moscato by our dear friends at NakuWine.

Made with juicy and high quality Moscato grapes from Sicily of Italy, NakuWine have created this wine crossing-over with the well-known Japanese character “To-Fu Oyako”.

With limited production, centre O members will be privileged customers to get this awesome product!

Taste note on the wine: peach and honeysuckle aromas with flavors of juicy tropical fruit, melon, apple and citrus. It is refreshingly semi-sweet and beautifully balanced with mild acidity.

Don’t miss out on the special offer for centreo: HK$199/bt. Pick it up at centreo.

Retail price in City Super is HK$248/bt.

​Happy Coming Holidays!

 

 

Facebook announced a slight tweak to the News Feed algorithm.

What does it mean? From now on you will see more “text-only” posts from friends in your News Feed and less text-only posts from Pages (as Facebook noticed that text-only posts from Pages did not get much engagement)

Why it’s good: Facebook will push more “link-share” posts from Pages – which is great for promoting your website or blog.

What is a “link-share” post?

If you have seen posts that have an image as well as the title and description post – then you were looking at a “link-share” post.

How to create a “link-share” post?

Add a link to your status update. The image with the title and description should appear automatically. Congrats, you’ve created a “link-share” post. Now you can delete the link in the status box, as the image and description below are now clickable.

Here’s what Facebook had to say about this recent change:

“The best way to share a link after this update will be to use a link-share. We’ve found that, as compared to sharing links by embedding in status updates, these posts get more engagement (more likes, comments, shares and clicks) and they provide a more visual and compelling experience for people seeing them in their feeds.”