I recently listened to an ABC podcast in which social researcher Hugh Mackay discussed worryingly high levels of anxiety and loneliness in Australia.

Hugh named the rise in social media among the causes of these mental health epidemics, and suggested compassion – or kindness and connection – as the antidote.

Which made me ponder the paradox of our modern world. Why, when we are seemingly more connected than ever, do so many of us feel alone?

Are we replacing real, genuine connection with online interaction and suffering as a result?.

The social media misnomer

Did you know 60% of Australians (around 15 million people, including me) use Facebook regularly to connect with friends, keep up to date with current events and find out what’s on in their neighbourhood?

In addition, recent social media statistics tell us that around 9 million Australians have an Instagram account, 6.4 million are Snapchatting and 4.7 million send tweets via Twitter.

Those are big numbers that indicate a lot of social connections, but we all know an active social media account is not the same as an active social life.

What the research says

Are the naysayers right? Is social media negatively impacting our mental health and wellbeing?

Well, there are plenty of studies that suggest social media use leads to higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression. The comparisons invited by many platforms have been shown to raise feelings of envy and lower self-esteem and, for those who are already socially isolated, looking in at the highly curated lives of others can add to feeling of loneliness.

The thing is, there are also studies which point to Twitter reducing stress levels – there’s nothing better than having a place to vent – Facebook helping people feel part of a community and Instagram making people work harder towards their goals.

What this tells us is that, like everything else in life, there are no absolutes when it comes to social media use.

And, given the prevalence of social media, the way we all now look for and find information, not to mention the number of social gatherings instigated and organised online (FOMO alert), for many of us there’s no way back.

But there is a way forward and, as obvious as it sounds, for me it’s all about balance.

What I love and what I question about social media

I have a list of pros and cons that justify, and keep in check, the time I give to social media.

Pros

• Facebook has allowed me to reconnect with my cousins and it’s been wonderful
• I’ve been able to get back in touch with old school friends
• Facebook provides an easy way to message friends
• I can research a business before using them
• I find out about a whole range events in my local area
• It’s good to know when my favourite brands are on sale
• I can follow and have easy access to my preferred news source

Cons

• It’s hard not to compare yourself and your life to others, especially through the highly filtered Instagram lens
• You only see the cream – the best photos, the happy days, the amazing overseas holiday
• Is following a long lost friend or relative really the same as genuinely “reconnecting”
• Oh the time you can waste!
• Annoying ads.
• Is there such a thing as too much information from friends and family? Yes there is…

When do you need a social reboot

My lists are fairly even. I recognise where I need to take care – comparing myself to others is not helpful – and limit my use of social media when I need to.

But, if you find using social media is diminishing your self-esteem or raises your stress and anxiety levels, it’s probably time to step back and step out into the real world.

According to Hugh Mackay “the state of the nation starts in your street”. He suggests getting to know your neighbours, not necessarily to form friendships, but to create a “herd” – a group of people you could call on in an emergency and who could call on you. It can’t hurt.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing

But, for most of us, keeping a toe in the social media pool doesn’t hurt either.

In fact, it’s rather like the research I mentioned earlier. There’s two sides to every story.

Anabel Crabb and Leigh Sales podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 gives us a case in point. Listeners of this podcast have formed a Facebook group of “Chatters”, and in almost every episode there is mention of acts of kindness from the group.

In this episode, the Chatters work together to provide a group member, who is stranded in a hospital a long way from home, is given a wealth of support and kindness by strangers. It was an emergency situation diffused by an online community…and a cabbage…but I’ll leave Anabel and Leigh to explain that one.

Why social media has a place in your life and business

So, while I totally agree with Hugh that our world could do with more compassion, I also think that online kindness and connection can work alongside, and sometimes strengthen, real life support. And, in terms of your business it can certainly strengthen your connection to potential customers.

Online Influence is a trusted Google Partner, we can help your business use the internet to connect to the right audience. Contact us today to find out how our friendly team can help.

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Trish Fehon: Welcome, everybody, to our next installment of social media success. I’m here today with Maria Silvestri from Heavenly Curves, Wetherill Park. Maria runs a very successful Facebook page, and I just wanted to interview her today so she can give you some of her tips. Welcome, Maria.

Maria Silvestri: Thanks, Trish. Thanks for the opportunity.

Trish: You’re welcome. Tell us a little bit about your business.

Maria: Okay. Here at Heavenly Curves, we’re all professional bra fitters. As well as a professional fitter, I’m also a breast prostheses fitter, so I fit women that have lost their breasts from breast cancer. We have a huge range, as you can see, of bras. Our ranges start from size 6 to 26 and from a D cup through to an M cup

We also have swimwear, which we’re keep in store all year round, and some corsets and some little sexy and sensible lingerie, as I like to call it.

Trish: Okay. Yeah, we all need sometimes a bit of sensible lingerie.

Maria: Yes.

Trish: Now tell me about your Facebook page. How long ago did you start it?

Maria: Our Facebook page we probably started now about 3 years ago, and we dabbled in it here and there until we actually got the gist of how to work it. It took us a little while to understand our customers and what they actually liked, what they thought was funny and that we could get some kind of correspondence on.

I think outside the square with our Facebook page. You can’t just always put bras and undies in front of people. I like animals, and most of my customers know that I’m an animal person, so I’ll therefore put little gimmicky dogs and cats type things. But I’ll also search the internet on Google for some nice images, some cartoons, caricatures, things that are a little bit different and don’t always relate to my business, but relate to my customers, so they can have a bit of fun with me.

Trish: You just said three really good things that I just want to go back and flesh out a bit. The first one was that you have to play with it and work out what your customers like, but what I like about that is you highlighted, it’s what the customers like, not what you like.

The other thing you talked about was – so that was playing with it to work it out, the customer, and… now I’ve forgotten the third thing, but I’ll remember that in a minute. But if you could tell me a little bit about those two things, the customer and the playing with it a bit.

 Maria: What we did was we threw a few different images up, just saw what sort of correspondence we got back, what sort of reaction, and then I gauged on that. I also gauged what time of the day that we actually got the most back from, and just finding – I suppose trying to work out what sense of humor my customers have, and based on the likes or the shares, then I started to understand my customers.

I often get customers that come in store and go, “I really liked what you put on Facebook last week. That was so funny.” And then also, I usually sit down on a Sunday afternoon and I’ll find some different things, and I’ll program them into Facebook, time, date. But then I also listen to what’s happening on a daily basis in our society and we’ll throw something up that may happen on that day.

I generally try and do two a day if I can, two posts a day. For me, Facebook’s not all about selling. Facebook’s just creating another customer base in some respect, or a fan base. And then people talk to other people, and then they’ll talk about their experience with either our Facebook or our actual business. Recently, we’ve had lots of people say, “So-and-so liked your Facebook site, and then I liked it, and now I’m here.”

Trish: I think it’s the combination of working out what your customers want, and then mixing it up a bit and working out their humor. So it’s not all about you. You and I talked about this earlier. This is one of the mistakes that people make on deciding whether they’re going to continue with their Facebook strategies; they don’t get a lot of response, and so they think, “Oh, look, that hasn’t worked.” But what Maria’s saying here is if you focus on your customer and not on you, then that will come back.

Maria: You get more response.

Trish: New fans and new customers. In terms of promoting your page on Facebook, have you ever – is this all organic, or have you bought, paid for ads, or have you done both?

Maria: We do a bit of a mixture. At the beginning, we probably just did normal posts and organics. If I found something that I’d put up that got an immediate reaction, I would boost it.

And then also, every now and again, I would obviously – if I had a sale or something special that came in store, or if we have an event like Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, then sometimes I will set a $100 budget per day and do it for 2 weeks. And then I’m very active on there so that they know and they can see things. I have trialed the $10 a day. Sometimes you get a little bit of response, but I think setting your limit for $100 a day does get you a wider, broader audience.

And narrowing it down to my specific target areas as well really helps us. For me, it’s not about selling overseas; we only sell in Australia, or Australia-wide. For us, we’re professional fitters, so we like people to be in store, so I concentrate on probably  200 kilometer radius around us. Sometimes I will go out further, and then also just pinpointing who is my customer, and targeting that area as well when you’re setting up your specific advertising.

Trish: That’s a really good point, because on Facebook, you have to learn, if you’re going to do this yourself, you have to take the time to learn how to do it. Because there’s a lot of pitfalls, and you don’t want to be advertising your bras to an audience of men, because that would open up a whole different audience that you probably don’t want.

Maria: Yes.

Trish: So Maria, what tips would you give other retailers and business owners in particular?

Maria: As a business owner, you need to step out of your business sometimes and actually look at your business from the outside in and work on your business rather than in your business. I have taken time out to do the Facebook courses and seminars. Some of them sort of duplicate each other, but there’s always something that hasn’t been brought up before that you will find.

I like to say I’m a bit of a vacuum cleaner as far as information goes, because I will take in as much as I can, and then I will sift through what works for us. I haven’t really dabbled in other social media platforms such as Pinterest or Twitter or LinkedIn; Facebook seems to be working for us. I may have a look at Pinterest because it’s very picture-based.

Trish: Yeah, very visual.

Maria: But Facebook has been very, very good for our growth.

Trish: Just in terms of sales, I know I’ve seen on your Facebook page that sometimes you’ll actually sell a product. I know other retailers do that, too. Tell us a bit about that and the successes.

Maria: I found when we first started advertising on Facebook, I was finding it difficult getting people from Facebook to go over to my website and increase my customer base. So when I do my paid advertising, I put a link directly to my website, but then every now and again, if I have a clearance or I have a special line, I’ll actually put it on Facebook, and I find that I will get orders that way rather than trying to direct people to my website.

Trish: Back to your website, yeah.

Maria: It won’t happen. I think the day and age of having it in front of you, sending me an email and saying “What size was that? I want it,” rather than them having to log out of Facebook, log into the website, and do it that way. Or I’ll get the ladies that will go, “You’ve put all these thing on Facebook; this is my size,” and they’ll ring and say “Can I just order it over the phone?”

So I think we are as a society getting a little lazier in some respects, so I think you’ve got to have it there and just make it easy for the customer.

Trish: And we’re all used to having everything we want at the edge of our fingertips.

Maria: Exactly. Mobile phone or laptop.

Trish: We get spoiled. Yeah, and you may have to reach over here to get the phone, but… yeah, we’re all getting a bit lazy.

Maria: We are. And my website’s not mobile compatible at the moment, so it makes it a little harder for people to get through. Whereas when you’re in Facebook and it’s in front of you, it’s simple.

Trish: Excellent. Some of what I’m hearing is first of all, know your customer. Second of all, find out what they actually like on Facebook already by testing it. And then doing a bit of paid advertising. Don’t be afraid to spend money on your business, because it’s your business, and it’s very measurable, whether it works or not.

But overall, the theme I’m hearing is just know your customer and cater to them. It’s all about them, not about you, right?

Maria: And targeting – I think with Facebook, if you go back to when you used to place an ad in the local paper or something, Facebook is measureable, it’s targetable. The local paper isn’t, and you can’t get any feedback out of the local paper, which may cost you $1,100 for a full page for one day.

Trish: Exactly, and you could spend $100 on your Facebook advertising; it’s measurable, trackable…

Maria: Targetable.

Trish: And nobody’s going to say “Oh, I can’t remember where I saw you,” because you know exactly from your tracking. And if you set it all up right in Google Analytics, you can track it and target it very well. Good on you, Maria.

Maria: Thank you, Trish.

Trish: Before we finish up, do you want to just tell us your address and how people can get in touch?

Maria: Heavenly Curves is at Shop 22 Market Town Shopping Centre at Wetherill Park. That’s on the corner of Rossetti Street and The Horsley Drive. We’re opposite the Wetherill Park TAFE.

And as I said, we have professional fitters in store, and also I am an accredited breast prostheses. So if you do know someone that has lost a breast or breasts from cancer, I can fit them with their breast prostheses, and we also have a huge range in store and online.

Trish: What’s the name of your website?

Maria: It’s www.heavenlycurves.com.au, and our Facebook site is https://www.facebook.com/heavenlycurves

Trish: Okay. Thanks so much for your time today.

Maria: Thanks, Trish

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Trish Fehon: Welcome again, everyone, to this series we’re doing on social media success. Today I’m here with Fiona Kane from Informed Health. Thanks, Fiona.

Fiona Kane: Thank you.

Trish: Fiona has a very successful Facebook page, so do you want to tell us a little bit about when you started and how you grew that?

Fiona: I started about 4 years ago, and in the beginning, I didn’t do advertising or any of those things. In the beginning, I just started sharing things about health. It’s a health-related business, so I just started sharing health articles, because I really didn’t know what else to do. Slowly, people started joining me more and more and being more interested in it.

What I did, though, is I did look at a lot of other Facebook pages. I just went on the lookout for other businesses who were similar to mine, especially a lot of ones overseas who were quite ahead of us here in Australia, and just looked at what they were doing. The people who had lots of followers, lots of likers, what did they say? What did they do? What did their page look like? What were they talking about? Just to get a lot of ideas about what I could do.

Trish: I guess what you’re saying is you didn’t just go out there and go, “Okay, this is what I want to do.” You investigated and found out what all really works and modeled from that.

Fiona: At the time, really, there wasn’t that much Facebook, and there wasn’t that many Australian Facebook business pages, actually, when I was really first starting out. So I didn’t know what to do; I just knew that it was important somehow. The only way to do it, really, was to go out and look at what other people were doing. And why reinvent the wheel when you can find out what someone else is doing?

Trish: Exactly, yeah. In terms of strategy, do you have a strategy? Do you post a certain amount of times a day or week, or what?

Fiona: It’s evolved – I haven’t ever written out a strategy of “This is what I’m going to do,” but I think about things or what I want to talk about this week or next week. Sometimes, though, it is also affected by what’s in the news, because there might be some great new study that’s been released, and everyone’s talking about it. And of course, that’s what I want to be talking about. I want to talk about the current study. I don’t want to be talking about something else that’s not as relevant this week. So sometimes it completely gets changed by what’s in the news.

But otherwise, I will do things – like I might be reading a book, and it might be all about saturated fat, so I’ll do lots of posts about that. Or I might be reading a book about diabetes and I’ll start talking about that. But I’ll often do a theme, and I’ll do similar sorts of posts, or different answers to different questions, and different questions around the same theme. I might do that for a week or for a few weeks or for a few days, depending on what the topic is, I suppose.

Trish: Yeah, and I guess how long you can drag it out, I guess people would get a bit sick of it eventually.

Fiona: It’d be boring if that’s all you talk about, yeah.

Trish: Just before when we were talking, you mentioned that you have a filter on the sorts of things that people can say. I’ll just explain what that means, is a lot of people are afraid that people are going to come onto their page and say horrible things. But what Fiona’s done is she’s set up a filter. Can you just explain that?

Fiona: Yeah. Basically, you go into the settings and you actually type in all the words that aren’t acceptable to you. Obviously, all the swear words or the really offensive words like that. I typed them all in the censors, and it’s quite a fun experience typing all these words. You look at the settings, and… But basically that means that if someone posts on my page with those words, it actually doesn’t show. If Facebook is unsure, then sometimes the post will be there and I can see it.

Trish: You can moderate it.

Fiona: But no one else can. So I can choose to hide it or unhide it. But often it’ll be a gray, like a lighter color, and I know that nobody else can see that except me, and I get the chance to read it and decide if I feel that it’s offensive. And if it is, then I can either delete that person or delete the message or just not unhide it. But if it’s fine, then I unhide it.

Trish: And the same thing goes on your personal page. I don’t know about you, but for me, I have it set up so that if anyone tags me in a photo, I have to approve it. What that stops is random people just tagging you, because you’ve got a lot of fans, and they know that if they tag you, that everyone’s going to see that. Or a lot of friends, sorry, because it’s your friend page.

So that’s a really good move to do anyway, because sometimes you get just random people tagging you in photos, and you think, “No, I don’t think I really want that showing on my Timeline.” So that’s another thing that you should look at in your settings.

But Fiona, can you tell me about what sort of activity in terms of paid or organic – is most of your fan – first of all, tell us how many fans you’ve got now.

Fiona: It’s just over 5,000. I think it’s around 5,060.

Trish: That’s phenomenal for a small local business. It’s absolutely great. Just tell us, did you do any paid advertising on that?

Fiona: Yes, I did. Most of it was paid. There was a mixture. I’ve got my Facebook tag at the bottom of every email and every letter, and it’s on my business card. When I meet people at business networking, I will send them an email and say “It was great to meet you. Here’s my Facebook, here’s my LinkedIn.” So I do actively encourage people to join me on Facebook everywhere I go, and tell everyone how great my page is. Very shy about that at networking meetings. Very modest. So I do that a lot.

But to get the numbers that I’ve gotten, I’ve done it with advertising. But what I find is – I’ve done it all different ways, but what I found works best is if you’re very specific. For example, I used to advertise to anyone, but if I have awhile bunch of people in Russia following me, that’s great and all, but I’m not going to get business from those people. Not with my business.

So I’ve learned now to narrow it down to 25 miles or 50 miles from Penrith, which is where I am in Sydney, because that’s the main people who are going to come and see me. So I want most of my followers to be people who actually could come and see me and come to my business. I only pay for advertising to go to those people.

And sometimes I narrow it down to people with specific interests, or what I might do – sometimes  I’ll do a general ad about just come and like the page. I’ve made a special banner so that people could see what my page is about. That’s really important, because if you’re advertising – what I realized, I was saying “like Informed Health,” but what was it? Then I realized that if my banner had information in it about why they might like it – and that works a whole lot better.

So I actually paid someone – because I don’t do that stuff; I’m not very clever graphically – so I paid someone to make me a banner that explained what Informed Health was about, so that when you see in your feed that “like Informed Health” thing, you can straightaway say “Oh yeah, that sounds interesting.” Because before, it was just “What is Informed Health?” Because it sounds like health, but it could be anything.

I realized you have to have a good banner that’s very specific, that people will get, that they’ll straightaway say, “Yeah, that’s interesting.” If you don’t, they might not bother, because there’s so much on their Newsfeed that they’ll get to something else and something else.

The other thing that I’ll often do is I’ll advertise a post or I’ll advertise – I might have an ad that says “Find out the truth about sugar” or something like that. But if you say that, then you have to have relevant posts on your Facebook page. Because if they go to your Facebook page because you’ve got their interest, and then there’s nothing there that interests them, they’re going to be gone.

Trish: It annoys them.

Fiona: Yeah. So you actually have to make sure that you’ve got enough posts in there, or at least one really good post that relates to what you’re advertising. Because if they click through and you paid for that, and then they get to your page and it’s like, “Oh, this is boring. Where is it? I thought it was about sugar.” So you’ve got to be very specific with advertising; you can’t just bang, pay for it, go. You’ve got to be really specific with it.

Trish: And don’t be afraid to spend money on your business, because it is your business. So don’t be afraid to pay someone to do some banners. I always suggest three or four different banners, just to mix it up, but with your key messages in those banners. And don’t be afraid to spend some money on advertising, because hello, it’s your business.

Fiona: You can put a limit on it. At first, that’s what you do. You play around with $15 a day or $20 a day or something like that, whatever you’re comfortable with, until you see what’s going to work. So you don’t have to commit to thousands of dollars for 6 months or something like that. You can just do it day by day, and you can turn it off straightaway. The second that you decide “Oh no, I don’t think…”, you just turn it off. That’s easy.

Trish: That’s the great thing about Facebook, is it’s trackable, but also you can turn it off. If you commit to say a newspaper ad for 6 weeks, and after 3 weeks you’ve got zero out of it…

Fiona: Too bad.

Trish: You’re stuck with it. So that is one of the great things about Facebook advertising, is you’ve got complete control over the budget, and it’s really worthwhile.

But what I’m hearing also is that you’ve got to get in there and play with it. If you’re going to do your own Facebook strategy, as in manage the page and do everything yourself, then you really need to know how to do that. Don’t just throw money at it and think that that’s going to be the be-all and end-all, because you have to be strategic about it.

Fiona, have you got any tips or hints – I guess specifically or people in the natural health related industry? Because that is huge on Facebook, and I guess generally, for business owners. Any tips that you would give people?

Fiona: One would be don’t advertise constantly. It’s social media. The point of it is social, so people don’t go there to be bombarded. If everything they see is “20% special off this,” “special on that,” this and that, they just will un-like you, will…

Trish: Ignore you.

Fiona: Ignore you, or all the different things you can do basically that reduces people’s ability to see your page. What you want them to do is engage with you, so what you want to do is actually give them something of value. What you’ll notice on my page is that sometimes, I might give 20, 30, 40, 50 things of value, where it might be an excerpt from an article, it might be a link to an article, it might be a recipe or some other information that’s useful to my followers, fan base.

Then I might say, “Hey, come in for a consultation, blah blah blah,” and I’ll do some other thing to promote specifically my business. But it’s so few in amongst all of the other posts that I don’t think I offend people or annoy them, because you can tell by how many – you can actually see if people hide your posts or if they un-like, so you can see when that has happened, and if it’s about a specific post, you can see that it was that post. So you can actually track and see, pretty much, if you’ve p’ed people off by doing that.

Trish: Obviously, if it’s just one or two people that have un-liked it, you just accept that they’re not your target audience. But yeah, if it’s a whole lot of people un-liked it, then yeah, maybe rethink the…

Fiona: Then you know that you’ve annoyed people, pretty much.

Trish: Just in terms of interacting with your fans, I know you’re pretty good at it, but can you just talk a little bit about that? Because some people, I notice, will put something on Facebook, and you might think it’s “Oh, what a great subject,” and you’ll go and comment on it, but you never hear back from the page owner, and you think, “What happened there?”

Fiona: You always have to close off something if you open it. One thing I do a lot of, because it works, is I ask questions or do a little pop quiz or something like that, saying, “What food is best” or “What food causes this disease, more this food or that food?” You get people interacting, you get people answering. But if you never go back and say, “Yep, you were right” or “No, you were wrong because blah blah blah,” then people get really annoyed with that. Because they say “I really want to know.”

So I usually try and do it at least within a day, but it depends how long, again, how long it goes for. Because if people are still interacting and still answering, you don’t really want to stop that. But when it peters out and they stop responding, then it’s time to get on. So I watch it and see, and then I’ll get on and I’ll answer their questions or I’ll refer, say “Check my next post; I’ll be talking about it here,” and then I’ll do a post or link to a blog or something to answer the question.

Trish: I like the way you do it, because what I find, when someone ignores your comment, it’s a bit like they didn’t really want interaction; they just wanted to tell you something. As you said, social media is social. It’s about conversations, it’s about involving people in it. If someone comments on your page, that’s gold, and you need to treat it like that.

Fiona: And I go through and like the fact that they’ve commented. Unless I absolutely disagree with what they’ve said, and then I’ll usually reply.

Trish: Say something, yeah.

Fiona: But I’ll pretty much like all of the comments that people make on my page, unless I really, really don’t like it. In which case, I’ll reply and explain or say something.

Trish: You can be diplomatic and say…

Fiona: Interact. Either way, I’ll interact. I’ll either like it or I’ll reply, and sometimes I’ll like it and reply. But it’s rewarding that person for interacting on your page.

Trish: And also what I’m hearing is, you don’t want to get into an argument with someone. I’ve seen some epic battles of massive arguments, and the thing is, people like me take screenshots of that to use as examples of what not to do. So you might think, “Oh, I shouldn’t have done that, I’ll delete it,” but the point is, somebody like me has probably already screenshot it, and it’s there forever.

So you need to be really mindful of what you put on Facebook, and certainly what you reply. If you’ve been out and you’ve had a few drinks and someone’s said something on your page that you don’t like, just…

Fiona: Leave it alone.

Trish: Respond in the morning. Yeah. Thanks, that’s great, Fiona. Do you want to tell us a little bit about how people can get in touch with you, the name of your page and your website, etc, and your address?

Fiona: Sure. At Informed Health, we’re clinical nutritionists, and we help people get back into life. It’s all about health. I’m really passionate about nutrition. My Facebook page is actually just Informed Health, so it’s https://www.facebook.com/InformedHealth The website is www.informedhealth.com.au, and the phone number is 47 222 111. That’s 47 222 111. But I’m sure if you check us out on Facebook, you’ll enjoy it. I really try and give a lot of value on my Facebook page.

Trish: Yeah, and you do. So thanks again. And thanks for watching.

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Trish Fehon: Welcome everybody. We’re here today with Melissa Ferrari from Love, Life, Relationships and Transformation. We’re doing a series on interviewing people who are having some success in Facebook on their Facebook pages. So I’ve invited Melissa to join us today just to chat about her success and how she deals with that. So welcome Melissa.

Melissa Ferrari: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Trish: So do you want to tell us a little bit about your business?

Melissa: I’m a relationship specialist, counsellor and a psychotherapist. I’ve done a lot of training to work with people with problems, stress management, relationship problems, depression, anxiety and the list goes on.

Trish: Wow, OK. So traditionally, how would a psychotherapist get clients?

Melissa: Well, I’ve been practicing for 15 years and probably until mid last year, my way was just sort of relying on referrals and also maybe advertise online on the occasional therapy pages where you put your name on and people go for a search and which we’re doing good enough for me. But it wasn’t enough as far as I was concerned. I wanted to do a little bit more.

Trish: Yeah. Then tell me a little bit about – we talked before about how you – that was the traditional road and you were kind of encouraged not to change that. So tell us a little bit about that.

Melissa: Well, to do something publicly when you are a psychotherapist, we need to be really mindful about things like ethics and that we’re not there to deliver therapy to people through online ways. It’s like people need to come to us. We sit in a room. We do an assessment. We talk to people about what they’re needing. We work around a direction of the treatment plan and all of that kind of stuff.

So it was more that ethically we need to be careful in how we present ourselves and we’re not doing therapy with people.

Trish: Right. So there is a legal line I guess you would like to be careful not to pass.

Melissa: That’s right.

Trish: Or step over.

Melissa: And it’s really important to be mindful of that all the time. So it’s not like your traditional business where you just sort of say this is what we do and all – well, I do say what I do but it’s more a different approach is required. I guess that’s what I would like to say. Yeah.

Trish: OK. So tell us a little bit about this success that you’ve had on Facebook.

Melissa: Well, how it happened was I was sort of really realizing how much people engage with online and particularly Facebook, sometimes Instagram, and all of those kinds of platforms. I really started to think about how I want to deliver more messages to people around the importance of relationships, connection and how healthy relationships is really the foundation to a lot of things like health, our mind being healthy, ourselves being healthy, our thinking being healthy, who we are, being important, how we present ourselves, relationships, are the underbelly to a lot of who we are.

I really wanted to put that word out to people. So it was a real dilemma for me on how I was going to do it. I knew that I didn’t want to write a book because it wasn’t something that I had room for in my life.

I really loved Facebook. I loved engaging with my friends on Facebook and we had chats about things and I thought, “How am I going to do this?” How am I going to say what I want to say about – to help people who are busy and many of us are busy. It’s a society thing now and I wanted to deliver some really clear messages.

So I woke up one Sunday morning and I said, “I’m going to start my page.” That’s how it came to be.

Trish: Yeah. So tell us – you’ve got quite a few fans now. Tell us a bit about how long you’ve been going and …

Melissa: It has been exactly a year and I’ve got 4600 fans. I think that’s what I’m close to now …

Trish: Yeah. That’s excellent. That is really good. You should be really proud of that.

Melissa: Thank you, thank you.

Trish: So tell us a little bit about how you did that.

Melissa: Well, I started to like other pages as well that had a lot to do with relationships. So I started to sort of form exchanges with them and which was great because they liked my page back or they would post some of the things that I had on there and all of that.

Then I also did a little bit of Facebook advertising where it comes down the side of Facebook and my page would come up and it was Love, Life, Relationships which of course is interesting to people. So they click and then they would like my page.

So in the beginning, I did have to spend a little bit of money to get it going but in comparison to what it has created for me, it was not much, not much at all.

Trish: Yeah, yeah, because Facebook advertising can be very reasonable, can’t it?

Melissa: It was, yes, and still is. I think it still is. You do reach a lot of people.

Trish: Yeah. I do think there are as you said – that is a topic that is of interest in Facebook and so Facebook doesn’t work for every single business. You need to be mindful of that when you’re deciding what platform you’re going to go on.

So let me cut this bit down. We will go to the next question. OK. So Melissa, tell us a little bit about how often you post to Facebook and the sorts of things that you post.

Melissa: I put out about two or three posts a day.

Trish: A day.

Melissa: A day.

Trish: So you heard that, a day. Yes.

Melissa: And I stayed really consistent with that. I don’t think I’ve ever missed putting out with the scheduling on Facebook. You can do it the night before. So if I’ve got a full day the next day, Facebook just happens for me without me having to sit in front of it. I rarely sit in front of it actually. I will just post a few things and what was great was that when I first did my page, I sent it out to all my own friends on Facebook.

So they reposted my page onto their private pages. So I got people like that but my friends supported me a lot in the beginning with liking my posts and all of that and I still do.

So they would really – that was really, really helpful to have people there that were engaging already and therefore their friends are watching and that’s how the page – it was quite organic in that way. But yeah, I put things on there like information about relationships. As I said, I talk a lot about the importance of relationships. I will put posts on there about – from great therapists around the world, particularly really good couple therapists who really have thought about couple therapy based on a lot of research.

So they will have quotes. So I will take their quotes and I liaise with them and ask, “Is it OK if I use your quotes?” and I have an assistant now, not before, that makes up little cards for me, that get posted on the page.

Trish: Great, yeah. I think that is really the key to it, if you can – many people just take other people’s content and repost it or even download it and then repost it, but you’ve done the right thing and contact with the person or created your own. That I think is people don’t realize how easy it is to create your own content.

Melissa: It’s very easy. You go on to the websites where you do have to put – I put just like my pictures that I use and I will take a quote. Some of them might be a quote from somebody that’s not even with us anymore. So I will use that because it has profound stuff said about relationships over the years. So I will draw on that as well.

It is important to think about that and in the beginning I did repost a lot of other people’s stuff, particularly if it’s good and what has happened is, is I formed really great relationships with them now. So it has worked out really well.

But yeah, that is all something very important to be mindful of and I also have a little disclaimer actually on my page in the about section that says if your name is here, it’s because I really like your work and if I haven’t credited you in the way that you need me to, please let me know.

Trish: Oh, that’s great.

Melissa: So that’s really clear as a disclaimer.

Trish: In terms of sharing, no page would object to anybody sharing their content. What I’m talking about is if you download that image and claim it as your own, that is likely to get the other page owner upset. But what Melissa is saying is she purchased her own photos and then just found quotes and put them on it and that is the best way to do it. You’re not infringing any copyright. You don’t have to worry about other people being upset with you. So yeah, that’s …

Melissa: It’s a really important consideration

Trish: Yeah.B

Melissa: I think it’s easy to make a mistake with it too.

Trish: Yeah.

Melissa: You probably can make a mistake with it but you need to really be mindful that that can happen.

Trish: Yeah.

Melissa: And the picture found someone else’s …

Trish: Yes, but like we said, it’s very easy to create your own content.

Melissa: Yes, very easy.

Trish: If you’ve got an iPhone, there are apps that you can write over photos all the time. Sometimes I will just take a beautiful photo and write something over it.

Melissa: Lovely. I’ve done that.

Trish: And post that.

Melissa: I’ve done that.

Trish: It’s completely your content.

Melissa: It is.

Trish: And the readers will love that.

Melissa: Yes, yes. And speaking of people that are creating and you’re not creating yourself, talk to people that are and that people really, really came to help you out with stuff like that, I have found.

Trish: Yeah, and there’s lots of free online tools that you can use too that will help you create posts and Facebook banners and things like that.

Melissa: Yeah.

Trish: All right. Let’s go to the next question. So we’re talking a little bit about the interaction with fans and that’s fun. So Melissa, tell me a little bit about if you – do you interact with your fans on your Facebook page?

Melissa: I do things like I will like something that someone has said or I will make a comment like a “thanks,” particularly if it’s something about how they’re enjoying the page. But I make it really clear that my page is to lift awareness. But people do read and have a think about the thought that I might have posted for that day or the article that I might have posted for that day and I’m limited. I don’t get into conversation with my fans because it’s not a therapy page and I’m a psychotherapist.

But I do interact at a minimal level that feels enough to feel like I’m there and I’m present and I’m with them and I’m watching and a couple of times I will even write a post that will say, “Although I don’t comment or like everything, I want everybody to know that I’m reading absolutely every single post that you put,” and I do.

Trish: Yeah.

Melissa: There isn’t a post that goes by that I don’t read.

Trish: And I’m thinking in your industry, if you’re in retail or an industry that’s servicing a lot of clients, you would have to interact particularly if somebody complained. I mean it’s a big mistake when you go on a page and write a complaint and then the person never responds. It looks so bad for them and everyone that reads that.

Melissa: Yes, exactly.

Trish: But yes, in your case, it’s – people aren’t looking for you to give them advice.

Melissa: Oh, no.

Trish: On their Facebook page.

Melissa: No. I like the way my fans use it. It really is just for them to wake up in the morning, have something there, for them to have a think about. Maybe think about again in their day or something and that’s all I’m really looking for.

Trish: Yeah.

Melissa: Yeah, just planting the seed.

Trish: But having said that, you had actually had success with converting some of those fans to clients, haven’t you?

Melissa: Yes.

Trish: So tell us a little bit about that.

Melissa: Well, I have my inbox where people can email me and they might just write to me and ask a few questions. I have liked your page or something like that and I liaise with them or talk to them for a little bit and then they may decide to make an appointment. So it’s still a very contactful kind of exchange and it’s not often that someone just says, “Oh, I would like to make an appointment.” They might write to me about something and if I think it’s something that I can help them with, yes, they are …

Trish: So it sounds like you’re a giving person and that’s the trade on your Facebook page and even when people message you, you’re quite happy to just give back without the expectation of it becoming their psychotherapist.

Melissa: Exactly, exactly. I think there’s something about that authenticity in how you present yourself. I didn’t expect it to probably do what it has done for me. That wasn’t the plan. The plan was some – lifting some awareness. I had had the privilege of being educated on a lot of things to do with relationships and I thought I want to really share that. So it has really happened quite organically.

Trish: Yeah. I think that that’s the common thread that I’m finding. You can go out with a purpose and I have seen that work, a strategic purpose to increase your fans and then to bring them onboard as clients and I have seen that work. But more often, it’s exactly what you’re doing. It’s that social, personable relationship-building to a level.

Melissa: Yes.

Trish: Without it getting too personal.

Melissa: Yes.

Trish: And that’s how it would be in your business.

Melissa: And I think how it helps is if people Googled me or Google “counsellor” or “couple therapists” in my area, because of the traffic that’s going to the Facebook page, it gets pushed up in Google.

Trish: Definitely.

Melissa: And that has just been something that has just happened. It has happened as well.

Trish: Because Google are using social media in their algorithm. They won’t tell us exactly how and what they’re looking for but we know it’s engagement and we know it’s constant posting and it’s emailing fans that you have, are all key parameters. But it’s also how often it gets shared, the posts that you make, reviews and things like that. So yeah, you’re on the right path.

Melissa: Yes, it has been great. And of course the added bonus is when people do Google, looking for a therapist and they find me, they go to my website and then that links to the Facebook page. Immediately they’re able to see …

Trish: And vice versa.

Melissa: That’s right. It goes back and forward.

Trish: Details in on your website which is critical, yeah. Now the other quick thing that I wanted to talk to Melissa about is LinkedIn. I know you do a little bit on LinkedIn. Do you want to tell us about that?

Melissa: I love LinkedIn. I really find that it helps me keep in contact with other therapists and so I learn a lot and what’s really good with that is that we’re consistently doing referrals and exchanging back and forward. Somebody might need something that I don’t specialize in and so I will refer them on to the right people and LinkedIn with what people are posting has allowed me to be able to watch what that therapist might be like. It helps me to engage a little bit more and understand what they’re like.

So it’s building a picture in my mind and I may think well, next time, somebody is looking for that particular therapist, that’s the person I can [0:19:18] [Inaudible].

Trish: So there, that’s a great tip because many people say to me, “I can’t see how LinkedIn is going to help my business,” and you’ve just said it in a nutshell. It’s more about building relationships with your peers, who we all referred business to each other.

Melissa: Yeah, and it’s beautiful because if they post something, they’ve gone to the trouble to post something, put an article that they’ve written or something. I read the article and I go back and I will make a little comment or I will put a like. I am busy so sometimes it is only a like, but it creates that relationship.

So it’s always coming back to creating relationship with people online and having the mindfulness that it’s a person there and they’ve gone to the trouble to post something and they would like you to notice. So I try as best I can to notice what people are doing.

Trish: Yeah. OK. So LinkedIn you use more of a P to P and referral source for you and Facebook is more the – I guess the B to C and you’re building relationships that – and you’ve only been doing this in Facebook for a year.

Melissa: One year, yeah.

Trish: So over a long period of time that’s going to just grow and grow and grow and I know just in a very short time – just a few weeks ago you said to me, “Oh, we’re about to kick over to 4000 fans,” and now you’ve passed 4600.

Melissa: Yes, yes.

Trish: So it can just roll, like snowball like that.

Melissa: Yeah, and I don’t pay for any Facebook advertising now.

Trish: No.

Melissa: No, no, no. It’s just shares and it just goes up, goes up, goes up everyday.

Trish: Yeah. Well, I think – I would like to ask you about some tips in general for people but I think we can already see that the reason you’ve done so well is because you’re very personable and that portrays on to your Facebook page.

Melissa: Thank you Trish.

Trish: You’re welcome. But if you – have you got any tips that you would like to give to any new people starting out in Facebook in general or in the therapy arena?

Melissa: I think if I was talking to therapists, just stay mindful of not sharing anything to do with the client or even any groups, anything that you do that’s not something to probably put on there or not to not put on there and to people that are starting out, just stay with that feeling of disappointment sometimes. Just write it out and keep putting your posts up there.

You do start to learn what people like. It’s like you just have to watch in and think, “Well, they’ve responded well to that or they haven’t responded well to that,” and stay consistent with what you’re doing.  If it’s like – when I look at my page, I can see the involvement in where there have been some slight changes where I’ve gone, “OK, I’ve got to go this way or that way a little bit,” and listen to what people are responding to.

Trish: Yeah.

Melissa: And that takes a little bit of time to really get that. I would say months before you really get that and thank your friends. Thank your friends who reposted your page that first day when you asked them to on your private list because my friends have been fantastic in that way and it has really, really helped a lot.

Trish: Well, that’s great.

Melissa: Yeah.

Trish: That’s great. Now just in general in business, what sort of tips – I’m guessing that what you do just – you do the same thing in your normal business I’m guessing. So yeah do you want to just give us a little bit about that?

Melissa: How do I say it without sounding too much like a psychotherapist? But I’m thinking see people. See others.

Trish: You mean really see them.

Melissa: See them. See when somebody is telling you a story and that they’ve put some effort into something. They want someone to notice.

Trish: Yes.

Melissa: They want someone to respond to it and say, “I think that’s great,” or anything that you are engaging with them because essentially it’s what we all want.

Trish: Yeah, we all want that.

Melissa: We do and I think it comes back to business too and we like to be recognized for what we do well.

Trish: And I think that’s one of the reasons that women in business are doing so well now and more and more women are going into business because we do handle business more from that personable level. We’re not – like when I’m talking to a man about Facebook, they want to know about stats. They want to know the insights. They want to see the graphs and they want to know the numbers on how many people interacted with this and that and obviously, if that’s what they need, then that’s great.

But women, we tend to just go with our gut instinct and try and take it back to a personal level rather than a statistical level which I think is a great thing.

Melissa: That’s right and I think a lot of men are noticing that too. I think they are noticing that and taking it onboard more, which is lovely.

So thanks Melissa. That was great.

Melissa: Thank you.

Trish: And thank you so much for those tips and I hope you’ve found something great. Melissa, do you want to just tell us what is your Facebook page name again?

Melissa: My page is

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Love-Life-Relationships-Transformation/464833603570327?fref=ts.

Trish: And your website is …

Melissa: www.MelissaFerrari.com.au.

Trish: Great. OK.

Melissa: Thank you.

Trish: Thanks Melissa.

Melissa: Thanks so much. Thanks Trish.

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For more Social Media Interviews, Click here.

Trish Fehon: Welcome again, everybody, to our series on social media success. Today I’m here with Suzi Tassios from Suzi’s Jewellery & Accessories. Welcome, Suzi, and thanks for joining us today.

Suzi Tassios: Thank you for having me, Trish.

Trish: You’re welcome. Tell us a little bit about your business, Suzi.

Suzi: Okay. I started my business last year, the 20th of June. We had a big launch, and that was very successful. We had over 200 people. We had 25 free sponsors. We had models, red carpet, food, video. Very successful.

Trish: Sounds great.

Suzi: And we’re still doing well.

Trish:  Now, you’ve had really good success on Facebook. I know this because I’m a big fan of Suzi’s page and her business. Tell us a little bit about how you orchestrated all that.

Suzi: Facebook is the way  to go, and that’s why I’m very successful. What I find is I started off with family and friends, even mums from school, and got them to like my Facebook page. And then I find with Facebook, it’s a lot easier to post my pictures. People can get to see it; it’s just a good way of interacting with friends, customers, clients, you name it.

Trish: In terms of that getting your friends and family to like it, I’m hearing that as a common thread, that that’s a really good way to start because obviously, Suzi sells accessories that women like, so getting all your friends and family to spread the word is a good way to start.

But we were talking earlier about other ways that people recommend that you get started off to build your fan base. Do you want to tell everyone about that?

Suzi: Yes. I was told to actually buy my likes for Facebook, but I found that didn’t work very well for me. I had people that were just liking the page; they weren’t the right customers for me. It looked great that I had a lot of likes, but they weren’t being converted into sales.

Trish: Sometimes the people that like the page are not the people that you really want as ideal customers.

Suzi: Exactly, yeah.

Trish: I see that a lot in this industry, and lots of companies, or a few big companies, have done actual studies into this, and they’ve proven that that’s not a great strategy. But I fully get the whole – when you start, you want to look like you’re really popular. That’s not a bad thing; it’s just that you have to, as Suzi said, look at the conversions and decide if that’s an ideal ongoing strategy.

Tell us a little bit about how you use Facebook. What sort of things do you do?

Suzi: Facebook is a way of building trust. People get to know you, they get to know you as a person. They get to follow you. They have an interest in you. With Suzi’s Jewellery & Accessories, it’s not always about buying. The way that I have it is everyone is welcome to come into the shop. It’s about the shopping experience; it’s pretty laid-back. We have a lot of fun, we take photos. So for me, it’s about building that relationship, and you’re welcome to come in, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t buy.

Trish: Yeah, and I think that’s what really shines on your page. Because Suzi will take a photo of just customers that come into the shop.

Suzi: And they love it. They sit there, they love posing, they come in next time like “What about the photo?”

Trish: And often you’ll tag them in that, which is a great way to help it go viral.

Suzi: It basically is. For example, I know you, Trish; I tag you in the photo, your friends get to see the photo, and then their friends get to see it as well. That is probably the best way of doing it.

Trish: Yeah, and I think what you’re saying here is it’s not about hit and miss, is it?

Suzi: No.

Trish: It’s about working out “Who’s my client and what’s the best way to interact with them?” So what about in terms of other social media? You mentioned that you use LinkedIn a bit?

Suzi: Yes, LinkedIn works really well with wholesale. I have companies from all over the world contacting me, trying to supply me with their products. I think that works quite well. I do have over 1,000 people liking that LinkedIn, but Facebook works a lot better for me.

Trish: What I’ve seen you do too, Suzi, is you’ll take a photo of an actual product, maybe one of the customers have put it on, and that generates a lot of interest.

Suzi: Yes, it does. Because I think it’s quite important that everyone gets to wear the product to see what it – like it might look different on me than it does on you, Trish. I’ll be very honest; I’ll say it as it is. But I think that’s the way to go. And then their friends get to see – their friends come in, and they want to be part of that, too.

Trish: And I know when I’ve been in here and you’ve taken a photo and tagged me in it, lots of my friends will say to me, “Who’s that Suzi’s Jewellery & Accessories? Where is it?” So it is a really good strategy.

Suzi: I’ve actually met people through you, haven’t I, Trish? That you’ve referred to me just by being on Facebook. So yeah, very good. Thank you.

Trish: And as you can see, Suzi has some amazing products. You obviously have an eye for picking things, and you know what your client wants, which is ideal.

Suzi: I think it’s important to ask your customers what they actually like, what to bring in. Everyone’s different. They’re all individual, and you obviously have to cater for their needs.

Trish: That’s great. So, is there any tips you’d like to give anyone just starting out, maybe in retail in general?

Suzi: I think it’s really important that you do set up a Facebook page. I spent a lot of money on a website. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It doesn’t cost you anything to set up a Facebook page. You start telling your story about who you are, what you’re selling. Start with your family, your friends. Or go even do a course if you have to.

But I really strongly believe that this is why I’m very successful. It’s nearly a year now, and I’m in the process of doing franchises. If you have a passion for what you do, you go for it. That’s all I can say. I love it.

Trish: Just to end it off, Suzi, do you want to tell us how people can get in touch with you, either Facebook, your website, and your address?

Suzi: Yes. Suzi’s Jewellery & Accessories https://www.facebook.com/suzijewellery. I’m at F111B 32 Lexington Drive in Bella Vista.

Trish: And your website is…

Suzi: My website is www.suzijewellery.com.au, and we’re in the process of fixing that as well, as you can actually purchase online as well.

Trish: Great. Bella Vista is in the northwest suburbs of Sydney, in the Hills District. But if you see something of Suzi’s that you like on her Facebook or her website, you can ring up or email and certainly purchase anything. I highly recommend her products. They are wonderful.

Suzi: Thank you, Trish.

Trish: Thanks again, Suzi.

Suzi: Pleasure.

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Gone were the days when newspapers, radio, brochures and flyers are the only advertising mediums available to local business owners. Now there is a more cost effective way of spreading the word about a product or service, reaching target consumers, and building brand awareness. The solution is social media marketing.

Here are some important tips and guidelines for business owners who want to expand their market reach through social media marketing:

• Build an attractive profile. The first step to successful business promotion through social media is creating a profile which users will find interesting. Facebook and Twitter profiles should portray the brand image that the business wants to project. Appropriate color schemes, templates, and layout should be used for greater impact.

• Participate actively in conversations and discussions. One of the fastest ways to get noticed in social media platforms is to participate in community conversations and exchange of information between users. An online marketer should not limit himself to creating posts and sending messages which are purely promotional in nature. Rather, he should also be involved with discussions on trending topics and other subjects which the target market finds interesting.

• Provide great value. In social media platforms, it is easy to spot fakes, wannabes, scams, and con men. User accounts which are built mainly for advertising purposes are ignored, and in some cases banned. To succeed in social media, a business owner should be able to provide great value to his audience. Instead of advertising blatantly, the focus of the marketer should be to share useful and valuable information. For example, instead of regularly posting ads on Facebook status messages, it is better to post links of informative or entertaining articles and videos.

• Create and share engaging content. The intention here is to create unique content, such as videos and articles, which has the potential to go viral within the social media community. Many marketers have benefitted from creating home-made instructional videos, and then uploading them on YouTube and Facebook. Once the videos are uploaded, the links are reposted to various social media sharing sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon and many others.

Outsourcing various social media marketing tasks is also a great way to multiply the effectiveness of promotional activities. Tasks like building a profile page, Facebook page, getting Facebook likes, posting comments, creating and distributing content, and getting followers, can all be outsourced to a reliable internet marketing service.