Social Media for Small Business

Chantelle Bell has been a naturopath for 9 years, has been running her own clinic for 7, and has recently launched a new business for her line of herbal teas. In this episode of Social Media for Small Business, Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson talk with Chantelle about her social media strategy, which platforms work best for different aspects of her businesses, and how she chooses which platforms to prioritise.

In this week’s year-end episode of the Social Media for Small Business podcast, Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson interview Mireille Ryan, the CEO of the Social Media Marketing Institute and founder of the Social Media Marketing Awards, about three social media trends she’s going to watch for in 2017: live video, influence in marketing, and understanding and quantifying social media as a return on investment.

Content is more powerful than advertising, and having a solid, cohesive brand story across all your content can mean the difference between a customer being compelled to read on or just clicking away.

In this episode of the Social Media for Small Business podcast, Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson interview Amey Lee of Heart Content -- a content consultancy firm that helps brands find the story they want to tell, and share it with the right customers -- about how small business owners can create a better brand story.


Jeff Walker is author of “Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of your Dreams.” In this episode of the Social Media For Small Business podcast, Suzi Dafnis talks with Cat Matson about attending Jeff’s LaunchCon – a three-day even with over 800 attendees, where current and potential small business owners can learn and share their experience about launching a product or service.


Digital is more than just a marketing channel. In this week’s episode of the Social Media for Small Business podcast, Suzi Dafnis and Car Matson talk with Holly Tattersall – the founder and CEO of Women In Digital and Digital Talent Co, two digital recruitment agencies that help match clients and companies that understand the value of digital – about unlocking the full potential of the digital medium.


Tim Reid is the host of Australia and New Zealand’s #1 business and marketing podcast, the Small Business Big Marketing show. In this episode of Social Media for Small Business, Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson invite Tim back on the show to talk about podcasting, social media, and marketing.

Storyboard is a new social media app that matches your photos and videos to the places you visit -- creating a more engaging story than you could get from Facebook, Snapchat, or blogging alone. In this episode of the Social Media for Small Business, Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson interview Darren Tonkin, the creator and director of Storyboard, about how small businesses can use the app to create more quality interactions between customers and their brand. Listen in to find out more about: Why Darren created Storyboard How Storyboard communicates who, what, where, when, why, and how Getting people from your social media networks to Storyboard Why visual storytelling is so important for small businesses

Videos are becoming an increasingly important tool for small businesses. In this episode of Social Media for Small Business, Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson interview social media strategist and coach Rachel McLean about why small businesses need high-quality, well-targeted videos, and how to get most from your video content. Listen in to find out more about: Where video fits in a social media content cycle, Using selfie sticks, and other technical tricks for recording high quality videos yourself. Pros and cons of professional vs. DIY videos, Learning from your competition, Why a call to action is so important, and how to use one in your videos.

Melinda Samson of Click Winning Content (www.clickwinningcontent.com.au) is our guest. She speaks to Suzi and Cat about why small businesses should consider advertising on YouTube, how YouTube ads work and tips for not paying a cent for your ads, how long a YouTube advertisement should be and what sort of budget you need to get started. Listen to learn how you can use this really targeted and affordable way to reach new clients. Plus tips and updates from the social media world to help you make the most of social media in your business.

Loren Bartley of Impactiv8.com.au joins Cat and Suzi as they talk about the power of Facebook advertising for small business. We look at why small businesses should consider using Facebook advertising in their marketing mix, the three steps to really effective Facebook advertising and why it starts with building an audience, what kind of budget you need to get started (it’s not as much as you think) and ways to measure the effectiveness of your Facebook ads campaigns. Plus tips and updates from the social media world to help you make the most of social media in your business.

You've no doubt heard the buzz about Snapchat. But, before you launch into yet another social media platform, we introduce you to Snapchat, who's using it, what it's good for an how it may work as one of your marketing vehicles. We interview Jo Scard of agency Fifty Acres. Plus what s in the news (LinkedIn is bought by Microsoft) and some great resources for your small business.

Social media is an easy and effective way to build a reputation. In this episode Suzi Dafnis and Cat Matson speak with Mel Kettle of Mel Kettle consulting about how Twitter brought her 95% of her referral business, how she creates meaningful and productive conversations on social media and how to grow the 'know, like, trust' factor using social media. Plus Mel tells us all about the highlights from the Social Media Marketing World conference she attended (the big names AND the big themes).

Nathan Chan, owner of Foundr magazine, has built a following of almost 1million instagram followers using a simple strategy of matching his messaging to his market and posting inspiring quotes that his audience loves and resonates with. In this episode he speaks to Cat and Suzi about the must-dos if you want to use Instagram to grow a following and to cross promote your products and services.

Jack Stone is the co-founder of Bee One Third (named for the fact that one-third of the world’s food is pollenated by bees), a Brisbane-based business that works to educate locals about the role that honeybees play in pollination and how to increase their numbers. To help shift the negative stigma against bees, the company installs rooftops hives, re-homes wild swarms and colonies, produces absolutely delicious raw organic honey, and more. In this week’s episode of Social Media for Small Business, Cat Matson and Suzi Dafnis interview Jack about how he uses Instagram to foster engagement and excitement in Bee One Third’s audience.

We speak with Jaclyn Carlson of Blog Society about how to use your blog to connect with your community. How long does it take to build sufficient critical mass (or a community big enough) that makes this kind of business model viable? Plus news and views with Cat Matson and Suzi Dafnis  

The South by South West Interactive Festival hosted President Barack Obama, authors Brene Brown and Gretchen Rubin, the fouders of Under Armour, Wikipedia and the brains behind the super-popular podcast, Serial, Ira Glass. Cat Matson interviews Suzi Dafnis about what she saw, heard and learned at the festival. Plus they discuss post virality according to popular site Buzzfeed.

Queensland Police Media administer an extremely popular Facebook page to provide important public safety and public interest information in a timely and efficient manner. Cat Matson interviews social media manager James Kleimt about how the page works to educate the audience and how the decisions about content are made on a daily basis. Plus news and views on social media.

Ben Bradshaw, CEO of SponsoredLinX is our guest. We talk about the Facebook features small businesses need to know in 2016. There's some great new ones you will want to know about. Plus, the importance of a content plan and a focus on three things - traffic, conversion and retention are key to your social media success.

Georgie Summerhayes of Brandata is our guest. We talk about how Brandata helps you discover, compare and understand your brand's social rank and how authenticity, personality and micromarketing can boost you online presence.Social media marketing is a new and rapidly-changing frontier, and businesses that can quickly interpret and respond to community feedback will be a big step ahead. 

We introduce a system for brands that allows managers, marketing directors, bloggers and influencers to understand the “social hotness” of their brand.

Marc Cowper, Founder at Recomazing is our guest. We talk about how small businesses can use Recomazing to drive word of mouth marketing and how to get started getting recommendations for your business.

Tara Kingi, Director at The Exposure Co is our guest. We talk about Influencer Marketing and how small businesses can make the most of Instragram. Includes great tips and tools for maximising your impact on Instagram.

What is the value of investing the time and resources required in getting to know our personas so well? How can understanding our customer buyer personas allow us to make better choices about our soical media. Anne Mehla of Australian-owned digital agency Zeemo is our guest.

We talk with Belinda Weaver of Copywrite Matters about the secrets to attention-grabbing social media posts and we ask her about video streaming with Periscope. We look at social media copy dos and don'ts and the words to use to get the most shares on social media.

Ryan Bonnici of Hubspot is our guest. We talk about what inbound marketing is and why is it so much more effective than traditional, interuptive marketing? Plus we look at how to talk very specifically to your ideal client in every social media post.

Michelle Falzon of We Are Content speaks to us about we shouldn’t post anything on social media without a clear conversion strategy and why it's important to begin with the end in mind. Plus we look at the importance of really understanding (and speaking to) your ideal client with every communication.

Laurel Papworth, Silkcharm, is a social media veteran, teaching thousands people each year how to harness the power of social media. In this episode she tells us how she connects with over 6million people every month and why engagement is more important than reach (and when).

Twitter still seems to be one of the most awkward social media platform for SMEs to use ... but it's such a rich and valuable platform when used well. Today we talk with Emily Huo, who currently runs the small business markets for Twitter across Asia-Pacific while being based in Singapore.

Phoebe Vertigan, Campaign Manager at Thirst Creative, a full-service marketing, design and digital agency based in Melbourne.  We are talking about how to use hashtags! How do you come up with the right hashtags - the ones that connect you with your perfect audience, what are they good for and common hashtag mistakes.

We talk with Suzy Yates of The Podcast Agency about the the value of powerful podcasts produced in a professional studio using the skills of an experienced radio presenter/producer and an audio engineer. Plus pro-tips that you can use, whether you're just starting or an established professional.Plus tips for make a female voice more authoritative.

David Parncutt of Engage Education Foundation speaks with us about how social media is at the heart of the marketing efforts for a non-profit organisation, how Facebook is actually very much alive and kicking when it comes to young people and how Facebook can be used to generate revenues, even in a non-profit context.

David Earley is a 'traditional news' veteran and currently audience editor at The Guardian Australia. In this episode we talk about how journalism and news is changing, and how those changes are affecting our social media feeds. Listen to hear how small business owners can use social media to build relationships with publications like The Guardian, or journalists, to get the coverage they want.

Daniel Clark is a master of business-to-business marketing and community building via social media. His expertise comes from years of IT and business experience as well as co-founding multiple websites, his most recent project being Townske.com. In this episode we talka bout how to use social media to connect business to business and hwo to build communities online.

Nick Bowditch is the only person in Asia Pacific to have worked at both Facebook and Twitter and the only person in the world to do marketing for both companies. His expertise extends to small businesses as well – not only did he work in small business marketing for both social media platforms but also started and sold three of his own tech startups. In this episode he speaks to us about why being authentic on social media, matters.

Rachel McLean, Director of McLean Social Media is our guest. We talk about the importance of quality content creation in your social media as well as storytelling and how to uncover the great stories behind your products and services.

When Google recently updated its algorithm it decided it will favour mobile-friendly sites in search results. What does this mean for your website? We ask Simon Phillips of Web123. Plus news and social media tips.

If you feel like LinkedIn is the 'sleeping dog' in the social media landscape, then think again. Sue Ellson is out guest and she explains the opportunities that are right there, right now for you and your business on LinkedIn. Plus we talk about why LinkedIn Premium can be a great investment.

Facebook was a fantastic tool for small business marketing. Now, it feels really tough. What is the 'real' state of play for using Facebook as a business in 2015? Loren Bartley of Impactiv8 is our guest. Listen to learn why Facebook is still where it's at in social media for small businesses. Plus the trends out of Social Media Marketing World 2015.

Attended by thousands of tech enthusiasts and early adopters, South by Southwest Interactive is a hothouse of big thinking and practical business technologies. It’s where Twitter was launched and has been a an accelerator for apps, technologies and startups. In this episode Cat Matson and Suzi Dafnis review some of the 2015 highlights. Hear about the big-name speakers, digital mind clones, behaviour changes, Uber, Google X, failing, testing and much more.

Meerkat allows you to stream live video from your phone to all of your Twitter followers. Streams have grown between 20% to 30% each day. And its user base is growing as well. Learn why Meerkat is one for you to watch, how Mashable, Guy Kawasaki and Jimmy Fallon are using it and how to use it in your small business.

Andrew Kolb of Kinfolk Communications is our guest as we talk about organic reach on Facebook plummeting and what to do about it to ensure your posts are seen. We give you tips to boost your results across Facebook (and other social media channels.)

Today you’re listening to this podcast, but should you be starting your very own? Trevor Young of the Reputation Revolution podcast is our guest. We talk about easy ways to produce a podcast and why it's a secret weapon your small business could be using right now to build relationships with new and existing customers.

Emma Lo Russo is the CEO of Digivizer, Australia’s leading people-centric social technology company . We speak to her about connecting conversations, people, data and decision-making and how to make the information we can gather from our social networks mean something useful. More on this episode at http://www.abn.org.au/smsb/digivizer

Andrew Ford of Social Star joins us to speak about how to be a star on LinkedIn. He explains the key success factors of a winning profile and what you can do to use LinkedIn to build referrals and thought leadership. Plus we look at personal branding and why, when done well, it creates more opportunities for you and your business.

If everyone can tweet and communicate directly to their market, what is the role of PR in the small business marketing mix? And more specifically, what is the role of social media when it comes to small business PR?

Should you jump into social media as a new business and use it to help market and grow your business? Adam Franklin, coauthor of Web Marketing that Works is our guest. We ask is there homework to do before you dive into social media. Plus, we ask why Twitter is a tool that will revolutionise your communication and how to mine the gold that is available for you through using Facebook.

Shannon Belew, author of The Art of Social Selling is our guest. Social networks are changing the way consumers make purchasing decisions. Tapping into these online communities has become a necessary part of any integrated sales strategy. We look at finding and engaging customers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks.

Janine Warner, author of Social Media Design for Dummies joins us. We look at the keys to creating a professional, effective, and cohesive design that will better communicate your brand's story. Plus we introduce new social network ello and a new book by Ann Handley that'll revolutionlise your writing skills.

Mark Babbitt, author of A World Gone Social - How Companies Must Adapt to Survive explains why social media is like an asteroid that has slammed into the earth and will take out the businesses that are like dinosaurs. (Ouch!) Plus we show you two new new Facebook features that'll make using Facebook for business, easier.

Guy Kawasaki, author of numerous bestselling books joins us to talk about Canva, the powerful free design tool that is democratising design and allowing each of us to create beautiful, compelling images on our social posts, websites and even print materials. If you aren't graphically inclined (many of us aren't) this is definitely a design service you're going to want to use. Plus we speak to Guy about the new social network, ello. Guy tells us why we should be jumping on board, now.