Specialised Covers win Theo Paphitis' Small Business Sunday #sbs
There can't be too many business men in the UK with a higher profile than Theo Paphitis. The entrepreneur and long standing member of the BBC hit show, Dragon's Den, is much more than just a TV celebrity.
Theo started out as a tea boy at Lloyds of London and moved into retail at age 18. By the time he was 23 the entrepreneurial spirit had driven him to start his first business. The first role that brought him a touch of the limelight was as Chairman of Millwall F.C., a position he held for 8 years, steering the club out of administration and into the F.A. Cup Final.
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Theo Paphitis[/caption]
He's now Chairman of Ryman Stationery, Co-Owner of Red Letter Days with his Dragon's Den partner Peter Jones and owner of Boux Avenue Lingerie as well as managing what we imagine is a very busy life in the public eye. Not content with sitting back and amassing a fortune, the Dragon has decided to give something back and to support small businesses across the UK, using his fame and business accolades to promote and support those he thinks deserve a break.
One way that Theo does this is by a canny use of his Twitter account. Every Sunday between the hours of 5 and 7.30 p.m. he invites fellow Twitter users to tweet him with a short summation of their small business in 140 characters or less using the hashtag #sbs. He then personally peruses the entries and the next evening announces his favourite six who he then re-tweets to his followers. Theo has over 450 thousand followers on Twitter, across many sectors, personal and business.
[caption id="attachment_6057" align="aligncenter" width="595"]
Theo Paphitis #sbs[/caption]
This week, Specialised Covers were absolutely delighted to be one of the six businesses that Mr. Paphitis chose to re-tweet. A re-tweet from Theo is a big deal. We usually gather about 10 followers a week on Twitter and since we were announced as one of the winners last night, we have so far gained 65 followers and that keeps growing. Purely as a result of Theo's tweet, our name has appeared in front of over 22 thousand extra people on the social network and 67 people have clicked on our profile directly from the tweet. We also got an additional 200 hits on our website over night. Such is the influence of this Dragon.
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Theo retweeted us![/caption]
As well as us, the other new members to the #sbs family this week are:
@MCP_Plastics - Manufacturer of machine engineered plastics
@BloomingFelt - Online haberdashery boutique
@TIFF_UK - Ethical fashion
@BottleBazaar - Personalised wine gifts
@CotswoldSoapCo - Luxury handmade soaps
As well as the extra publicity that comes from being recognised by the famous entrepreneur, winners of #sbs also receive a profile page on the SBS website and an invitation to attend the next SBS networking event, this time to be held in Birmingham at the end of January. Expect to see the SBS winner logo on our social media and website soon, we are very proud to have been chosen!
Theo Paphitis[/caption]
He's now Chairman of Ryman Stationery, Co-Owner of Red Letter Days with his Dragon's Den partner Peter Jones and owner of Boux Avenue Lingerie as well as managing what we imagine is a very busy life in the public eye. Not content with sitting back and amassing a fortune, the Dragon has decided to give something back and to support small businesses across the UK, using his fame and business accolades to promote and support those he thinks deserve a break.
One way that Theo does this is by a canny use of his Twitter account. Every Sunday between the hours of 5 and 7.30 p.m. he invites fellow Twitter users to tweet him with a short summation of their small business in 140 characters or less using the hashtag #sbs. He then personally peruses the entries and the next evening announces his favourite six who he then re-tweets to his followers. Theo has over 450 thousand followers on Twitter, across many sectors, personal and business.
[caption id="attachment_6057" align="aligncenter" width="595"] Theo Paphitis #sbs[/caption]
This week, Specialised Covers were absolutely delighted to be one of the six businesses that Mr. Paphitis chose to re-tweet. A re-tweet from Theo is a big deal. We usually gather about 10 followers a week on Twitter and since we were announced as one of the winners last night, we have so far gained 65 followers and that keeps growing. Purely as a result of Theo's tweet, our name has appeared in front of over 22 thousand extra people on the social network and 67 people have clicked on our profile directly from the tweet. We also got an additional 200 hits on our website over night. Such is the influence of this Dragon.
[caption id="attachment_6059" align="aligncenter" width="601"] Theo retweeted us![/caption]
As well as us, the other new members to the #sbs family this week are:
@MCP_Plastics - Manufacturer of machine engineered plastics
@BloomingFelt - Online haberdashery boutique
@TIFF_UK - Ethical fashion
@BottleBazaar - Personalised wine gifts
@CotswoldSoapCo - Luxury handmade soaps
As well as the extra publicity that comes from being recognised by the famous entrepreneur, winners of #sbs also receive a profile page on the SBS website and an invitation to attend the next SBS networking event, this time to be held in Birmingham at the end of January. Expect to see the SBS winner logo on our social media and website soon, we are very proud to have been chosen!