By TAMARAH NEILL

Staff Writer

Following the success of what 26-year-old Corrina Massicotte, events co-ordinator for the St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce, says was the "most well-attended" event of 2009, the chamber is presenting its first-ever Lunch and Learn multiple-session series.

The first session, Building Business Through Facebook, was held last November and covered how to set up an account and privacy settings, which ones to use, and Facebook etiquette.

Thirty people attended, says Massicotte, which is the maximum capacity for these sessions.

She says she expects another full turnout for the second session, Building Business Through Facebook: The Sequel, with about half the attendance returning from the first session.

As of Jan. 8, 10 members were registered, but she says it's not uncommon for session spots to fill quickly during the last week of registration.

Lorraine Beaudoin, resource counsellor in school support services for the District School Board of Niagara, attended the first of the social media series and says she will be attending the second.

Beaudoin says the school board is using Facebook and Twitter as a way to provide general information about the board to those who are fans.

"I work in the guidance area and feel that this is one method that we can use to communicate with students and parents about programs and events."

Unlike part one, which was open to non-chamber members at a different price, part two of the series is a members-only event aiming to provide exclusive benefits to members.

The Lunch and Learn on Jan. 27 begins at 11:45 a.m. at the Chamber Education Centre, 1 St. Paul St., in downtown St. Catharines. 

It will focus on how to set up a page for your business, how to acquire fans to your page and how to keep fans interested using photos, status updates, event applications, links and notes.

Massicotte says the targeted audience demographic for the event is 40- to 50-year-olds, who "are on Facebook a little, and usually have a fear for being online," adding it's important to teach businesses how to provide consumers with an up-to-date Facebook page because "people just want things faster."

The chamber will present a third and fourth Lunch and Learn session on how social media can help your business.

She says a third part at the end of February will explore two other popular social sites, Twitter and LinkedIn, and a fourth part in March will be a how-to on using social networking sites via Blackberry.

"Facebook is a great networking tool, and it's a free tool that provides information to the public faster."

"Anyone who has to market themselves can benefit from having a Facebook page."

She says by posting promotions, sales, advertising and exclusive discounts to their pages, businesses in the retail sector are benefiting from using the social networking site with more than 350 million active users.

"They [people] are going to use Facebook, so let's use it to our advantage." Massicotte gives the example of Coffee Culture cafe and eatery in downtown St. Catharines, who uses its Facebook page to post specials and holiday hours.

Local businesses U Need A Pita and One Hour Signs both have active pages. Fast-food giant McDonald's has a page with more than 1.5 million fans.

She says company heads are accepting that it will be helpful to their business to learn and use social networking sites, adding the members she's working with are putting forth great effort.

Mark Grimm, First Ontario Credit Union Grantham Avenue branch manager, attended the first session and says he, too, will be attending the second.

Grimm says it's his "personal interest in social media and new emerging technologies" that's got him and his employer "experimenting and starting to get involved in some unique ways" to expand business.

"I truly believe that by going forward, social media will play an active role in how we do business, how we are entertained and how we socialize and communicate. I embrace technology and am fascinated by the many new and emerging uses of social media."

Massicotte stresses the importance for prospective business opportunists to start networking online, if they aren't already.

"Networking is where you'll find companies that are hiring and where you are able to find contacts. You can learn things about companies, such as what the trends are and where the jobs are or are not."

"And now, you can do it from your house, too."

The St. Catharines-Thorold Chamber of Commerce has had its Facebook page since last spring.

She says the chamber and the Quality Hotel Convention Centre use their pages to "cross-promote" one another, which is only one example of how social networking is boosting business.

Twenty-five to 50 per cent of the chamber's fans are non-members, and about one- quarter of the 1,100 chamber members now have Facebook pages, says Massicotte.

 "I've noticed the number has especially grown in the last six months." Facebook on a global scale has more than 1.6 million active pages, 700,000 of which are business pages.

Since the Internet is such a valuable tool for today's industry, she says she believes "businesses that don't have a website are almost obsolete."

She adds social media and networking has "not so much yet" become an essential part of a successful business," but "it's on its way."s

For more information, visit the chamber's website at www.sctchamber.com