By Michelle Thai, Marketing Intern

It’s a no-brainer that social media is key to engaging fans, donors, and customers. Here at GlobalMojo, we’re fans of Simon Mainwaring, who’s using his social media skills and experience to make a difference in the world.

If anyone could tell you about using social media to leverage your brand –whether you’re a corporation or small business or nonprofit— it’s Simon Mainwaring.

Simon is the founder of We First, a social branding consulting firm that helps companies, non-profits and individuals use social media to build communities, profits and positive impact.

He’s has quite the biography: he’s an award-winning branding consultant, New York Times bestselling author, influential blogger, and international speaker. He’s worked with brands like Nike and Motorola, and of course, he’s the founder of We First. He’s also got a million other impressive accomplishments, which you can read about here.

Photo Credit to the We First Facebook

If your nonprofit or social enterprise has the budget for it, Simon will host a seminar from February 1^st to 2^nd in Marriott Marina del Rey, CA that will focus on social branding. By the way, every attendee gets a free ticket for his or her favorite nonprofit! Thanks Simon.

But mind you, this isn’t just any ordinary seminar with information being lectured to you until your mind explodes. At Simon’s Social Branding Seminar, you’ll walk away with a social branding blueprint.

Fancy-sounding huh? Well, it is. The blueprint is specific to your business or nonprofit. Most importantly, it’s actually do-able. Simon explains that “without a blueprint specific to your business, targeted toward today’s consumer, and leveraging the latest social technologies, a brand cannot hope to connect to their customers in the most meaningful way that will drive their bottom-lines.”

Sure, Simon has the experience and expertise. But, why is he doing what he’s doing – dedicating his knowledge to help brands “build a better world”? He explains his inspiration came from Bill Gate’s speech at the World Economic Forum in 2008. “In this speech he challenged the private sector to think of new ways to help the less fortunate because governments and philanthropies can’t do it alone,” he explains. “I was intrigued by the irony of the world’s richest man now being its greatest philanthropist. I felt a responsibility to work on an answer.”

His answer eventually became his social branding seminar and his award winning book.

If you can’t make it to Simon’s seminar, he’s also the author of “We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World,” which will benefit your nonprofit or company nevertheless.

In it, Simon shares his expertise and experience on how companies and nonprofits can leverage social media to earn customer trust, positive brand image, customer loyalty, all while maintaining profit and delivering sustainable, social change.

His book answers one of today’s most pressing questions: how to practice capitalism in a way that satisfies the need for both profit and a healthy, sustainable planet.

On Amazon, the book has an overall five out of five-star review from 44 customers, and was chosen by Amazon as one of the Top Ten Business Books for 2011. Gary Vaynerchuk, author of New York Times Bestseller Crush It! says, “We First is more than a must read – it’s a must do. Buy it, act it, and most importantly – LIVE IT!”

The book is available for $14.47 on Amazon. Just a reminder that if you have GlobalMojo installed, up to 2.0% of your Amazon purchase will go to your favorite nonprofit!

Let’s hear it for entrepreneurs using their skills and expertise to make a difference. Way to go, Simon!

By Michelle Thai, Marketing Intern

Happy Global Entrepreneurship Week! This week is celebrated globally with entrepreneurial events worldwide, from launches to networking events to meetups. Last weekend – being the GlobalMojo nerd I am – I attended a crazy tech startup event in Allston, MA.

Over the weekend, I helped create and launch a gourmet, meal kit delivery service called ChopChef in a matter of 54 hours. That’s right. We launched a startup in a single weekend from scratch.

My team of four worked at the Harvard Innovation Lab from Friday night to Sunday late afternoon, figuring out everything needed to launch ChopChef – vision, logistics, branding, operations, finances – and developing its full website (not yet public). On Sunday, ChopChef’s founder, Sheena Gogna – a Harvard Business School student – was ready for customers.

This was Startup Weekend Scramble at Harvard Innovation Lab: an intense, 54-hour scramble to launch a viable startup. 125 students from Harvard, MIT, and the Boston community (me from Emerson College in Boston!) all gathered to pitch our ideas, form teams, and launch them by Sunday evening.

13 startups made it to the end, after 54 hours of programming, coding, brainstorming, marketing, and everything in between.

Monica Stephany Liu, a Harvard undergrad, pitched Townhall140 Friday evening. It’s a Twitter enabled platform that allows an individual to live video chat with the “movers and shakers” in government for 140 seconds.

While an individual chats with the political figure, Twitterers use their 140 characters to join the conversation while they wait in a virtual line to speak with the official.

On Sunday at 5:00 PM, less than 48 hours after Liu pitched the idea, her team of 10 launched its first virtual townhall with Trey Grayson, Director of the Harvard Institute of Politics, about Occupy Harvard. Townhall140 was the winner of Startup Weekend Scramble.

Second place was Continuum Career: a platform that connects students with mentors that can provide the most relevant guidance and advice in terms of career. Third place was BetaDater: a platform called InstaRater that lets individuals receive anonymous date feedback, giving him the information he or she needs to be a better dater.

It’s not required of the students to continue to grow their startups after the event. Whether the students decide to continue growing their new startups or disband and move onto new ideas, the event did its job: to build community among the budding entrepreneurs of the Harvard, MIT, and Boston community, while showcasing the resources available to them at the new Harvard Innovation Lab (which is pretty sweet, by the way).

When it comes to Townhall140, it is safe to say we can all be on the look out for Townhall140 Version 2.0, as Liu tweeted yesterday, “Lining up a slew of @Townhall140 live events as we work on our Version 2.0 platform. @JonMumm and #opentok are the best!!! #HilabSWS.”

Lauren Landry, staff writer for BostInnovation’s education section and attendee of the scramble, tweeted “It always amazes me to see what teams can come up with in a matter of 48 hours. #HiLabSWS”

What does Startup Weekend Scramble say about the future of startups? It proves that anyone is capable, if they’re willing, to launch something powerful as long as they put their minds and hearts into it (like us over here at GlobalMojo!).

A big shout-out to all the entrepreneurs at Startup Weekend Scramble, and all around the world, and GlobalMojo Founder Brad Crisp, who are all making their dreams happen – whether or not in the matter of hours!