Social media is being approached like medical research once was: If it's good for the men, then a smaller, pink pill must be good for women. No way, says Ventureneer, which is offering a Vcourse, Real Women Do Social Media.

"Social media classes often don't consider the way women interact and the time-management needs of women. This class provides one-on-one interaction with the instructor and a ready-to-implement social media plan for each participant."

The 8-session on-line class will be held on Tuesdays, June 15 through August 3, from noon to 1 pm ET. The cost is $500 for those who register before May 31, $700 for late registration. Real Women Do Social Media meets each week via phone and the Internet.

"Women invented social media. After all, who recommends more products and services than women? No one," says Lena West, who developed and will teach the course. "Women have nothing to fear from new media, as long as they're explained well, in plain English. And that's what this class is: clear explanations with practical advice on implementation."

West is an award-winning social media strategists, blogger, and columnist. She developed her curriculum after years designing Internet and social media marketing programs for women who owned small businesses. Through her work, she found that:

• Women want marketing tools that show measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time.
• From a time-management perspective, women need to be more efficient because they tend to be balancing work with family more often than men.

At each session, West will be joined by one of her clients who will share the good and not-so-good, what she wished she'd known before using social media and what she would do differently: Real life experiences from real business women.

The class has other features to ensure practical, real-life problem-solving for participants:

• Weekly 60-minute online sessions and, for those who answers to particular questions, additional Q & A time following each class;
• Assignments related to each person's business needs;
• Feedback on the particular challenges facing each participant's business;
• Access to recordings of all classes for review or make-up if a session is missed;
• Online, private Real Women Do Social Media forums so participants can interact with one another and ask questions on the fly;
A step-by-step outline for developing a social media strategy;
Discounted access to Social Media Concierge Agents aka "social media elves."

At the end of the 8-weeks, participants will have a written, ready-to-implement social media marketing plan.

For more information or to enroll, visit Ventureneer.

About Geri Stengel

Geri is founder of Ventureneer, an online education and peer support service. An adjunct professor at The New School, she honed her online experience at companies like Dow Jones and Physicians’ Online. Geri co-founded the Women's Leadership Exchange and is president of Stengel Solutions, a consulting service for social-impact organizations.

About Ventureneer

Ventureneer.com provides nonprofit and small business advice as well as entrepreneurial and nonprofit training through a new approach to learning: a blend of traditional, formal instruction with informal, peer learning that takes advantage of Web 2.0 technology to capture and share knowledge. Ventureneer's customized blogs, virtual classes, peer-to-peer learning, coaching, web events, and articles help entrepreneurs make faster, better decisions for their enterprises.

Ventureneer

Ventureneer

Ventureneer provides a new approach to learning that blends traditional formal instruction with informal learning derived from problem solving with peers using Web 2.0 technology. Members use Ventureneer to solve problems, request resources or information, seek guidance from others and, most important, how to have the greatest impact. The first phase of Ventureneer a blog called Vistas has launched.

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