The ‘Who’s Blogging What - Facebook Page Marketing Guide 2010‘ is useful for Facebook newcomers and existing users alike. The e-book includes:

• How to build a business page that stands out
• How to build a loyal following
• Examples of effective pages
• How to track the progress of your Facebook marketing efforts

Visit the Hubspot website to download the Facebook guide.
www.hubspot.com

Do you ‘like’ our Facebook page?

On our Make Hay & Green Hosting Facebook page we share useful info, articles, offers and guides on ethical business, web design, web hosting and online marketing. Visit our Facebook page and ‘like’ us to keep up to date.
www.facebook.com/MakeHay

ecoescape is the directory and travel guide for inspirational, eco-friendly places to stay and visit in the UK and Ireland.

We originally created the ecoescape directory several years ago and with new plans for the business comes a new look and more features to help finding green holidays in the UK even easier. In 2009 ecoescape was listed in The Independent’s top 50 best travel websites and now it is even better. Explore by location, tags and types or use the interactive map. Check it out and if you’ve visited one of the venues on the website then why not write a review too?

The ecoescape website is powered by the wind with our Green Hosting.

Visit the site at www.ecoescape.org

Check it out for yourself at www.ethicalweddings.com

Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your work.

Hello, my name is Leonora Oppenheim and I’m the director of Elio Studio, a design consultancy that crafts narratives to inform and inspire.

Our work can be described as design storytelling – in other words, we use word, image and form to tell local cultural, environmental and community stories to wider audiences.

We work in collaboration with architects, designers, curators and scientists on creative projects that promote engaging conversations around sustainability issues.

I also regularly put finger to key to tell epic tales of design derring and sustainability do for TreeHugger.com and other online and print publications.

How is your business different to that of others in your industry? How do you stand out from the crowd?

From working on plans for a chocolate factory with cacao farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon to reporting on biogas toilets from the mountains of northern Ethiopia, we tell many an adventurous tale of beautiful and inspiring encounters with creative minds around the world.

With an unusual combination of design, writing and sustainability skills Elio Studio tells cultural stories through several disciplines, including public design installations, journalism and brand consultancy.

This diversity gives us multiple platforms to communicate from and we often enjoy blurring the boundaries between them, which makes for a pretty dynamic and unique approach to storytelling.

How would you say your work is ethically and / or environmentally responsible?

Every project that Elio Studio is involved in has its root in ethical and environmental responsibility, we take that as a given. If the project is not making a positive contribution in some way then it’s not the right fit for us, and moreover it’s just not fun to work on.

What motivates you to do business this way?

I like a good challenge! And I really believe that forging emotional connections between individuals and their local environment is one of the greatest design challenges of our time.

At the studio we’re excited by the possibilities of creative collaboration with local communities. We take local stories at a grassroots level and promote them on global platforms, inspiring businesses & individuals to create positive change.

How do you communicate your positive work with clients and potential clients and how do they respond?

We try to take a light, engaging tone that shows we’re as passionate about good design as we are about environmental issues, and that the two are not mutually exclusive.

We communicate using word and image through multi-media channels of email (hello [at] eliostudio.com), website (www.eliostudio.com - thanks to Make Hay) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/ElioStudio).

Occasionally, when we really want to grab someone’s attention we like to be old school and send a beautiful hand written note. Sometimes we even turn up in person!

Each medium is useful in it’s own way. For example Twitter is an excellent tool, not only for promoting your own work, but also to curate content of others you trust and admire. It gives you the opportunity to create a dynamic ‘brand voice’ that gives potential clients an impression of what your business is about.

Do you see your work as part of a movement of ethical business?

Yes, absolutely.

It’s difficult to say whether there is any body else doing exactly what Elio Studio is doing right now, but there is certainly a fantastic community of sustainable design thinkers locally in London, and globally in the blogosphere, working in all sorts of different disciplines – fashion, products, architecture, service and systems design.

We all bounce ideas off each other regularly and often form fantastic collaborations. I feel very lucky to be part of this community that keeps me inspired and motivated every day.

My top 5 UK ethical design business picks:

Worn Again - www.wornagain.co.uk
Imaginals - www.imaginals.net
Thomas Matthews - www.thomasmatthews.com
Exploration Architecture - www.exploration-architecture.com
New Frontiers - newfrontiers.uk.com

Share your top 3 tips on how other businesses can work more responsibly.

Cradle to Cradle – learn to embrace systems thinking and close the loop.

Act local. Think Global – get involved in your local community and tell everyone about it online.

Work for ‘More joy per person’ – always ask how your business decisions affect people, from supplier to consumer and everyone in between.

How do you see the future of your business and what are you most excited about?

The future of my business is multidisciplinary and multi platform storytelling, finding creative ways of communicating the important issues of our time to people locally and globally.

I’m most excited about the possibilities of working with commercial brands to communicate their sustainability initiatives to their customers in fun and engaging ways. I think there is so much potential to inspire people through design storytelling.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your work?

You might like to check out one of Elio Studio’s projects that’s currently in development. It’s a series of public design installations called Creative Data (www.creativedataprojects.com) that are taking place around the UK over the next few years.

We’re working in collaboration with climate scientists with the aim of the communicating local environmental issues to local people in their local environment.

You can watch the short film of our pilot project The Butterfly Effect,  and watch out for the up coming Creative Data projects in Wales 2010 (coastal), Cornwall 2011 (Eden Project) and London 2012 (Olympics).

If you are interested in finding out more about Creative Data or would like Elio Studio tell your design story please do get in touch (hello [at] eliostudio.com)

Visit Leonora’s website at www.eliostudio.com

Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your work.

Vivien Johnston, Director and founder of Fifi Bijoux. I set up the brit brand in 2006 to offer consumers jewellery made exclusively from ethically sourced materials; fairly traded gold, platinum and silver mined without mercury or cyanide.  The jewellery is crafted in London by master goldsmiths. Our diamonds and gems also come from ethical sources, small scale co-operative mines where possible and carefully selected mining and cutting projects which practice exemplary social and environmental responsibility standards.

How is your business different from that of others in your industry? How do you stand out from the crowd?

Fifi Bijoux is a design label, we show at London and Paris Fashion Weeks and have been readily accepted by the fashion press. It’s a luxury product; with the unique new luxury of known provenance of all our materials. Our customers are a mixture of hip ethical shoppers and fashion-forward trend setters.

How would you say your work is ethically and / or environmentally responsible?

We take great care to partner with mining programmes which demonstrate a strict code of conduct for social standards, including no child labour, fair advancement for all workers, living wages to employees or co-operative projects which invest back into the communities where possible. Environmental standards are tough and they have to be. Standard mining practices rank 2nd in the world for environmental damage and the consequences to water sources, fish, flora and fauna, as well as local communities who depend on these for their food sources can be devastating.

Fifi Bijoux was founded on the principle of maximising the positive impacts for the local communities.

What motivates you to do business this way?

I experienced the lack of transparency in the typical jewellery business model and saw that the value chain was heavily weighted after export of rough or unrefined goods, meaning a raw deal for the producers. The extreme problems in the jewellery industry have been well documented; a lack of traceability in the supply chain ultimately allows for conflict situations and for corruption to flourish. The film Blood Diamond shows the civil war which was funded by diamonds in the 1990’s; but similar atrocities occurred as recently as Nov 2009 in Zimbabwe when Mugabe’s troops murdered miners in the diamond fields. The DRC and Cote d’Ivoire remain volatile.

At worst, diamonds and precious minerals remain an easily smuggled hard currency. At best, mining companies who do actually fulfil high standards of CSR remain invisible and often lumped together with the worst offenders because of the lack of traceability. I think consumers should be able to make informed choices, especially on something as precious and sentimental as an engagement ring for example.

How do you communicate your positive work with clients and potential clients and how do they respond?

The press have been kind and have shown great interest in Fifi Bijoux and my business model. I meet with private clients and work on design briefs with them, I also design ready to wear collections which are sold on-line and through our stockists. Currently, we have around 30 stockists across the UK and also export to France, New York and Australia.

Do you see your work as part of a movement of ethical business?

Yes, most certainly.  I see forward thinking business and sustainability being critical to the global economy.

Above image: Little Acorns - 10% profits to Child Sponsorship Project, Entebbe, Uganda

Share your top 3 tips on how other businesses can work more responsibly.

Know your supply chain. Use your purchasing power to make ethical choices. Accept that ‘being ethical’ is about making a journey; you have to start somewhere and don’t be discouraged if certain things elude you to begin with. Companies like Make Hay didn’t exist 10 years ago; but now boast a very lively client list and provide a green choice for business.

How do you see the future of your business and what are you most excited about?

We launched our own on-line boutique last year and it’s going from strength to strength. Export is also growing, so we hope that Fifi Bijoux will develop its international reputation in the next few years as well as the UK has received our designs.

Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your work?

We have just launched a silver collection and a collection of 18ct gold engagement and wedding rings.

Visit the Fifi Bijoux website at www.fifibijoux.com