There’s no denying it – Squarespace websites are pretty.
They’re clean, fluid and stylish straight out of the box. The modern layouts, smooth scrolling effects, and clever use of white space give the impression of a professionally designed site even when they’re built from templates.
As a web designer, I get it. I’ve admired these visual effects – especially the way images fade in, and how fonts glide and curve across pages, and how easy it is to make something look instantly polished.
But beneath all that visual appeal lies a reality most business owners don’t realise until much later: Squarespace’s beauty comes at the cost of performance and control.
And when a business needs more than a digital brochure – if it needs a fast, findable and flexible website that grows with your goals – you’ll quickly run into limitations.
So if a business owner comes with a request to me to build them a Squarespace site, I wouldn’t say yes. What I would do, is explain why that shouldn’t be their choice of website builder, and help them to understand that performance over visual trends will always be better.
Here are the three biggest issues I’ve experienced time and time again, when clients with existing Squarespace sites come to me for help.
Squarespace sites are often slower to load than those built on WordPress or Wix. That’s because the platform uses a shared hosting environment. This means your site runs on the same server setup as thousands of others, with limited optimisation options.
You can’t add speed-enhancing plugins, compress images beyond their defaults, or fine-tune caching and CDN settings. It’s all locked behind the platform’s walls.
Even the most beautiful website loses its shine if visitors leave before it loads. Google research shows that users start dropping off after just three seconds on a site that loads slowly, and site speed directly affects your SEO ranking.
By contrast:
WordPress lets you choose your own host, optimise images, and install performance plugins.
Wix has improved dramatically, with automatic image compression and built-in caching.
Squarespace? It looks good, but moves slow.
Squarespace is built for simplicity. It’s why it’s been popular with “designers” who value visual over performance, or lack in website development awareness. This simplicity limits your ability to fine-tune important SEO and performance settings.
It also flags to us that your designer, may not have digital marketing skills.
If you want to adjust or customise technical settings like:
Custom schema markup (This helps search engines understand what your content is (product, event, article, review) and display it attractively in results with rich snippets that boost click-through rates).
The robots.txt file (This tells search engines which pages to crawl and which to skip. Managing this ensures only your best, customer-facing pages appear in search results).
XML sitemaps (This acts as a road map to help Google find and index your pages faster especially new content and blog posts).
Canonical tags (Prevents duplicate content issues by telling Google which version of a page is the “official” one).
These small but powerful tools make a big difference in how your site performs in search engines.
Squarespace automatically creates them for you – but doesn’t let you edit or refine them. That means your SEO strategy is stuck at the beginner level, no matter how strong your content is.
By contrast:
WordPress gives you full control with plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.
Wix provides structured data options, meta tag editing, and sitemap controls right in the dashboard.
Squarespace’s “locked box” approach is great for beginners, but frustrating for anyone ready to grow.
Squarespace offers a handful of SEO basics — like editing page titles, meta descriptions, and URLs. That’s fine for getting started, but advanced SEO needs more.
Here’s how Squarespace compares with Wix and WordPress when it comes to SEO tools and flexibility:
Squarespace covers the essentials, but it doesn’t scale well when your marketing strategy becomes more data-driven. WordPress and Wix both provide the depth and adaptability needed for businesses that care about long-term SEO results.
Squarespace wins on style, but WordPress and Wix win on substance.
If you’re running a small creative business or a simple online portfolio, Squarespace can be a great start. But when you’re ready to grow — to rank higher, attract more customers, and build a site that performs as well as it looks — you’ll need a platform that gives you freedom, flexibility, and room to evolve.
Curious about the speed of your website? Run a check on your website via Google PageSpeed Insights. It will also give you a list of improvements to make across your site to help the users experience.
We’re updating several areas of our own site, and using this checking system to help keep us on top of our game too.
At Social Ocean, we create websites that are just as visually stunning as they are technically strong. Whether you’re ready to move on from Squarespace or want to optimise your existing site, we can help you design a platform that works harder for your business – fast, flexible, and built to be found online.
👉 Let’s chat about your next website. If you’re ready to move your website to a more powerful platform, our Design services might provide the solution.
In recent months, I’ve found myself unexpectedly emotional while developing resources for the Cancel Loneliness campaign. This is a community activation project I’ve had the privilege to lead through my work with local charity Band of Brothers Qld Inc.
It wasn’t until I started writing phone educational guides and designing posters and invitations to encourage people to notice signs of loneliness with their own peers and family that I realised… I was describing my own needs too.
A lot of people assume that if you’re visible and active in your community, you must be thriving socially. But the truth is, loneliness doesn’t always look like isolation. Sometimes it looks like a full calendar and a very quiet house.
I’ve been running a business on my own for years now. That decision brought freedom, flexibility and purpose, but it also took me away from something we often don’t realise we need: regular human connection. Gone were the spontaneous kitchenette chats, team drinks, staffroom lunches & sneaky ciggie breaks, as well as shared celebrations and frustrations of working life.
Add to that a husband who travels extensively for work, adult children who’ve moved out, and a remote-work lifestyle, I began to realise how much of my daily life was happening in solitude.
That’s part of why I started The Ocean Network, and later Ladies Who Long Lunch. These communities weren’t just business strategies – they were lifelines. Quiet acts of courage to reach out and build spaces where connection could bloom again.
Now, leading the Cancel Loneliness campaign, I’ve poured those same emotional drivers into every asset we create:
Every one of these materials is grounded in the idea that moments matter –the theme for this year’s Loneliness Awareness Week, about the small act of reaching out, which can be the difference between someone feeling invisible and someone feeling seen.
Sometimes when I read back through the copy we’re printing or listening to stories from my own peers who have mustered up the courage to share their similar stories, I tear up. Because I know – firsthand – how powerful it is to feel that someone remembers you, and that you’re not alone.
It’s not just me. According to the current data, nearly 1 in 3 Australians report feeling lonely – and those numbers are rising. Loneliness doesn’t discriminate: it affects the elderly, the young, carers, remote workers, single parents, new residents, and yes, even campaign designers.
We can’t solve loneliness overnight. But we can take action.
We can notice who’s missing from the table.
We can gently reach out.
We can name loneliness for what it is, and we can guide people toward connection and reconnection.
And maybe… just maybe… while helping others, we can begin healing our own hearts too.
Today my emotions have been set off again, as I received a note from the President of Band of Brothers Qld Inc. thanking me for all the work I’ve put in above the call of duty and how much he appreciates how I’ve helped make the Charity focus on what’s important and present something to the community that will not only be effective but a body of work they can take pride in.
We’re still a fortnight away from launching the campaign to the public, and so I have a lot of emotional moments to come I’m sure. But if you’ve ever felt the sting of loneliness, or know someone who has, I invite you to follow along with the Cancel Loneliness campaign.
You could share a message or story with me.
You could even want to know more about how your organisation could become an Advocate.
You might even like to learn how to recognise the signs of loneliness in others so you could refer them if it feels right.
So please reach out to me to help rewrite the story of disconnection, one conversation at a time.
Armed with over 20 years’ experience in the event management business, Kirsty Fields has co-ordinated everything from kids’ events to national sports games. After a successful career in sports, she embraced modern marketing and promotional techniques.
Her passion for training clients in social media, digital marketing and branding has been combined to present her multi-award winning business Social Ocean a bespoke events marketing agency.
Kirsty’s experience in event management and coordination, and the small business space, backed by her passion for marketing, makes her an ideal source for all things related to events, small business, marketing, social media and branding.
You can find a list of podcasts Kirsty has been featured on, on our About page.
Thanks to Sally Eberhardt for this story published in the Redcliffe Guide May 2022 issue.
Come and celebrate being a woman in business, relax, and make new connections over a deliciously decadent Long Lunch and a glass of bubbly in great company.
At the Ladies Who Long Lunch May event at Tempest Seafood Restaurant, you get to call this fun and friendly experience ‘doing business’. Set right on Scarborough Harbour, Tempest offers waterfront dining and the freshest seafood to enjoy while you bond with some other fabulous females.
Created by Kirsty Fields, Creative Director of Social Ocean, and Jo Stevens, founder of The Zen Zone, the Ladies Who Long Lunch is for women wanting friendship, who need to take time out for themselves, and are looking to make genuine business connections.
Kirsty Fields said this event is for every woman who recognises the importance of self-care and the social impact of spending time with others who inspire, support and re-energise them.
“We understand the type of women we’ve designed this event for. We know who they are because we are them.”
“As business owners, we mainly go somewhere that educates us or advances our business. It’s refreshing to have an opportunity that includes fun and frivolity.”
“Running your own businesses is stressful and it’s important to surround yourself with positivity,” Kirsty said.
Building relationships is the basis of success for businesses according to Jo Stevens.
“There will be plenty of time to mingle, and networking is a great way to build connections,” said Jo.
Kirsty and Jo both feel strongly that younger women should be encouraged to consider a business pathway. One of the highlights of the Long Lunch is the empowerment panel with a Q&A session featuring three young female entreprenuers.
Thos special guests are landscape architect Eva Porter (owner of Porter Designs), founder & marketing strategist Belinda Boyce (owner of Matchsticks Digital), and student journalist Alayna Fond (president of UQJACS).
As Jo said, “Ladies Who Long Lunch is about bringing women together to network, connect, have fun, eat great food, and enjoy a wine or two!”
Spoil yourself a little!
Originally published in The Road Ahead Feb-Mar 2022 magazine. Written by Jessica Wilson.
More than 2.8 tonnes of rubbish was collected by “Waste Warriors” in Clontarf (Ningi Ningi Country) as part of a 100-day program to reduce litter in the region. Love our Clontarf 100-Day Litter Campaign founder Les Barkla said the initiative was a community response to a growing problem.
“I have a Facebook community group called Pristine Peninsula and I noticed two of our Waste Warriors, Phil and Sue Johnson, were picking up a horrendous amount of fast-food packaging and other listter within a 2km radius of a fast-food chain,” Mr Barkla said.
“They were filling a 240-litre council rubbish bin a week with mostly takeaway packaging.”
Mr Barkla created the 100-day campaign with the support of Waste Warriors, the community, local, state and federal governments and local businesses.
“The Redcliffe Peninsula is a unique area as we’re 80 percent surrounded by water, so all the litter on streets ends up in Moreton Bay or Hays Inlet, which is a very sensitive ecosystem for turtles and dugongs,” he said.
“We designed the campaign to bring about education, awareness and behavioural change around litter and actually keep it out of our waterways.”
More than 100 volunteers participated in the campaign which focused on litter hotspots including Snook Street, where the fast-food chain is located, and the Clontarf Beach State High School.
“Local businesses sponsored electronic message boards with anti-littering messages. We had quite effective roadside sign vigils and 40 street sponsors cleaning up their local streets,” Mr Barkla said. The result was a 45 percent reduction in rubbish during the 100-day period and more than 15,000 litter items diverted from local waterways.
“On Snook Street alone, we picked up nearly 11,000 pieces of littler over the 12 weeks,” Mr Barkla said.
“The major items we picked up were 4,500 cigarette butts, which is a major issue for roads, followed by fast-food packaging.”
Mr Barkla said people who threw litter from their vehicles rarely saw the impact of their actions.
“They think their one cigarette butt won’t make a difference and don’t understand that it will take five to 10 years to break down,” he said.
“When you equate what we picked up on Snook Street to annual period, it’s about 50,000 pieces in just 1.6km stretch of road.”
Mr Barkla said the fight against litter was ongoing despite the campaign’s success.
The campaign doesn’t end now the 100 days are over and we’re putting pressure on the government to actually make changes,” he said.
“All packaging needs to be 100 percent compostable or it’s not going to get better because a litterer doesn’t care whether an item is made from recycled material, they just throw it out the window anyway.
“We’re just a community of 60,000 people and just a small part of the state, but I’m a strong believer in communities driving change.”
Read the report here.
Join the Pristine Peninsula Facebook Group
Follow the Pristine Peninsula Redcliffe Facebook page
See how Social Ocean supported the Love Our Clontarf Campaign
The Love Our Clontarf 100 Day Litter Campaign, undertaken on the traditional lands of the Ningy Ningy people, was a litter baseline study and litter reduction campaign held across 100 Days at the beginning of 2021.
The campaign focused on a targeted litter hot spot in a 2 kilometre radius of the McDonalds Clontarf, Redcliffe Peninsula.
At the campaign launch in January, acknowledgement of the Ningy Ningy Peoples – the traditional custodians of the land on which we gathered – was made by campaign Founder Les Barkla. Paying respects to our Elders past, present and emerging, Les also stated that this campaign was all about respect for this land and these local waters, as the ancestors cared for them for 20,000 years.
The Redcliffe Peninsula won numerous Tidy Towns Awards in the early 2000s. Today that level of respect has been lost, as has the connection with land and waters. This has been backed by statistics showing 8 billion cigarette butts are littered every year and 8 million litter items are tossed every day in Australia (Keep Australia, 2019).
Providing raw data to show stakeholders that littler is a serious terrestrial and marine environment issue for this littler hot spot and for the Redcliffe Peninsula. Redcliffe is surrounded by 80% waterways with sensitive marine ecosystems and official Marine National Parks.
Litter was reduced by 45% at the Snook Street audit site over the 12 weeks of audits using various litter awareness and education strategies including social media campaigns, digital sign board located at the audit site, campaign signage around the area, local media coverage with sharing of online content by key stakeholders.
If adequate litter enforcement strategies and resources were available, these 10,952 litter items would have potentially brought in $2.8M in fine revenue based on the now current minimum Litter Fine of $275 (risen in price at 1 July 2021).
The Love our Clontarf 100 Day Litter Campaign Final Report (click to download) includes:
Delivery and discussion with Moreton Bay Regional Councillor Karl Winchester (Division 6 Councillor for Clontarf), meeting attended by fellow area Councillor Sandra Ruck,
Delivery and discussion with State Member for Redcliffe, Yvette D’Ath MP,
Delivery and discussion with Federal Member for Petrie, Luke Howarth MP.
Stencilled footpath messaging for concrete walkways around the Redcliffe Peninsula designed and delivered by the Moreton Bay Regional Council Environment Team. Installation commenced December 2021 with further roll out due in the in the first quarter of 2022.
“Community-Driven Campaign Calls for Action on Litter” by by Jessica Wilson – RACQ Road Ahead Magazine, Feb/March Issue 2022
2021 Community Spirit Awards Finalists by ABC Radio Brisbane Community Spirit Awards – 8 November 2021
“Keeping Clontarf clean, one item at a time” by ABC Brisbane Breakfast Broadcast – 26 October 2021
“Report calls for action on litter” by Kylie Knight – 8 September 2021
“Labour of Love” by Kylie Knight – Dolphins News, 15 May 2021, page 19
“Fight to stop littering goes on” by Kylie Knight – Dolphins News, 5 May 2021, page 2
“Students join war on waste” by Jodie Powell – 14 April 2021
“100 Day campaign to reduce litter begins” by Kylie Knight – 29 January 2021
Join the Pristine Peninsula Facebook Group
Follow the Pristine Peninsula Redcliffe Facebook page
See how Social Ocean supported the Love Our Clontarf Campaign
Instagram formats and features continue to evolve, allowing a broader range of image ratios beyond the classic square. Over time, IGTV transformed into Video, Reels became the dominant format, and grid previews shifted away from 1:1 to taller aspect ratios. Squares are still supported, but portraits now command more real estate, engagement, and visual impact.
If you rely on visual content—photos, static posts, Reels, or Stories—it’s essential that your templates and designs use the correct pixel sizes. A mis-sized image can appear blurry, cropped, or shrunk, hurting both brand credibility and engagement.
Use our 2025 Instagram image sizes (below) to make sure your published posts are looking sharp.
Enter the pixel sizes into Canva’s custom sizing or create your own digital templates with Adobe or other software.
Here are the latest Instagram imagery sizes.
Instagram now supports multiple aspect ratios in the feed. This might sound strange, but if you’re designing your posts instead of uploading photos, create templates of your preferred size.
DESIGN TIP:
Instagram’s profile grid previews now default to cropping portrait posts to 3:4. Use the 3:4 format when possible or leave safety margins when using 4:5 to prevent important details from being cropped off. When creating Carousels, every slide must be the same size too.
This is main Instagram image that will be seen in more places than your own Instagram Profile.
Your profile image should be square, with a minimum resolution of 320 × 320 px. Many brands choose 400 × 400 px for extra clarity (including us here at Social Ocean),- it will display inside a circular frame, so centre the logo for best visibility.
If your logo doesn’t already fit within a square, ask your designer to provide you with an option that will fit. This will be handy for all social media profiles.
Or make your own. Put your logo on an all white background – centre the logo to a solid white square shape – leave plenty of white space around the edges of the logo. This is what lets you zoom in and out when working inside the logo uploading tool.
If you have a personal brand, read our great tips on how to select your personal profile photo on our blog 5 Profile Photo Tips.
Stories are available to be seen via the profile image on both your Instagram and Facebook business accounts if you have them synced.
Stories artwork for Instagram or Facebook platforms use the same size. You may have other repurposing opportunities for other digital platforms. Although they aren’t great for wide viewing like on YouTube.
You can stitch together still images, graphic designs and videos to create Instagram Reels. Once you have any of these elements, you can create a Reel via the Instagram app on your phone or using different apps.
Ensure you take video on your phone vertically. If you record video clips with your phone held sideways, your Instagram videos on both Facebook and Instagram will no longer be optimised. Images and video for Reels should be the tall slim rectangle orientation.
DESIGN TIP:
If you suffer from fat fingers, you can always upload your files into Canva and build Reels there.
Using the right image dimensions:
Designing templates in Canva or Adobe with these sizes built in saves time and protects your visual integrity.
Social Ocean offers done-for-you graphic design services that include Instagram templates sized for all your visual content — feed posts, carousels, Reels, profile assets, and Stories.
Purchase premade social media quotes for your social scheduling here.
If you need help to create or update your social media images for Instagram or any other platform check out our Graphic Design options.
Check out our blog 5 Profile Photo Tips for guidance on choosing the perfect profile image that fits inside your new templates and represents your brand consistently.
Did you know indoor plants create healthy environments where people flourish? Many people enjoy living and working in green spaces, and like having indoor plants around. But is there more to it?
The answer is – YES! They look amazing! And there are many proven scientific health benefits about indoor plants. Here’s what research tells us about some of the benefits living and working with indoor plants.
They are natural air-filters! Plants absorb harmful toxins in the air while releasing oxygen into the workplace.
A cleaner more invigorating work environment will lead to better employee health.
Even if you love where you work, sometimes stress is unavoidable! University of Sydney (UTS) research found that offices experienced the following benefits:
One of the Fab 5 indoor plants may turn out to be the best cubicle-mate you’ve ever had. Many studies have found that plants in the workspace increases productivity and creativity.
And creative blocks are no joke! Whether you’re out of ideas or stuck on the same one for a little too long, office plants can provide inspiration.
Did you know that 50% of employees have no natural light in their place of work?
Also, one in five people said they have no natural elements in their office, whatsoever.
That means that a lot of us are working in a dark, lifeless space, which if you ask me, doesn’t seem like an appealing place to be.
That’s why there is an upward trend of potential employees taking the physical space into consideration when searching for new opportunities.
Surround yourself with plant wellness and go green in your workplace! Why? Because they are a great investment!
But, I can hear you say: What if I don’t have a ‘Green Thumb’? How do you know which plants will survive? Which plants are best for me and my workspace? You most likely don’t have an indoor plant expert beside you! So I’m here to help you choose the right plants to freshen up your office space.
Here are the ‘Fab 5 Indoor Plants’ that will make you the envy of your colleagues once installed in your office.
(Botanical name: Zamioculcas zamiifolia)
Almost the perfect plant. Tolerates low light, low water and even drought. You can neglect this one and it will still bring you joy by always looking healthy.
Often known as the ‘clean air plant’, the Zanzibar Gem is the perfect office plant, for work or home.
To keep it contained for any space, prune it. But, if left to its own resources; it will spread its wings, filling a much larger space than the top of the planter pot.
Keep this one dusted so the foliage is able to show off its beautiful shine.
(Botanical name: Epipremnum aureum)
The Pothos Ivy has three main varieties. ‘Golden Pothos’, the ‘Neon Pothos’ and the ‘Marble Queen Pothos’.
Lack of airflow does not affect them much and so they thrive in indoor spaces. They also live for a long time without the need for high light.
The more light they have, the more water they will need. So keep them away from strong light (window or artificial) and they will be easier to maintain indoors.
Their colour will change into a dark greenish shade with less light.
(Botanical name: Sansevieria trifasciata)
Also called ‘mother-in-law’s tongue’. It is a sturdy and bold spiky looking plant and requires very little maintenance.
It tolerates low humidity, low light and low water.
There are over 70 varieties, but the most common are:
‘Superba’, ‘Golden Hahnii’ and ‘Sansevieria Twist’. All come in various sizes and are slow growing.
This indoor plant puts up with any environmental condition you can dish out! Don’t overwater this one.
(Botanical name: Dracaena deremensis)
Janet is a great girlfriend to have. She adapts beautifully to any office or home conditions. With her dark green cluster of strappy foliage and is naturally shiny and lush. Its cane-like stem structure can also be propagated without the need for roots.
Keep the leaves clean by wiping them off with a damp cloth. Janet Craig poses as a remarkable office plant and you should invite her to move in with you right away!
There are too many varieties to list here, so I will give you the general rules about keeping succulents. They are a desert plant, which thrives on sun and little water.
So do not try to keep a ‘cute’ succulent on your desk if there is no direct sunlight reaching your plant. No need to overwater, a small amount every month should do it.
‘Now you know about the Fab 5 fine-looking, almost no effort indoor plants. Go and surround yourself with plant wellness and go green in your workplace. It’s worth the investment’!
Special thanks to Guest Blogger Elaine Tunn. Elaine is the CEO of Interior Plantscape Association (IPA) and has kindly written this article for publication on the Social Ocean blog. The IPA is a professional association representing the growing indoor plant hire and maintenance industry across Australia and New Zealand.
If you need assistance from an indoor plant expert, reach out to one of the IPA members or the association directly via the links below.
Creating Intellectual Property (IP) in a business is incredibly important. Your IP helps to both stand out in your market, and result in making money. But making money is generally an outcome of first building community and trust.
So how do you go from having an idea – creating the IP – to selling that idea and bringing money in?
What’s more, if your market is flooded with similar solutions and there’s lots of messaging about your topic, where do you start?
Start with building your community. A community can exist in different ways: online or offline, geographical, industry-based, have broad demographics or a refined private or niche identity.
Initially building a community from clients, networking and industry connections, contractors and suppliers, friends, referrers and collaborators makes sense. It’s also easier as these connections will already know your capabilities and trust you.
What they all have in common, is that they collectively make up your community already. You don’t need to seek them out – but you do need to formalise how you communicate with them. That might be digital communications like email, or as simple as posting regularly on social media.
Importantly if something happens to a part of your existing community, and engagement or support seems low, it’s likely you’ll maintain the others and they’ll pick up engagement according to your activity.
A communication strategy is key for you to sell in the future. It’s also an excellent way to mass-communicate information, education, support, offers and awareness. Adding names to a “list” is a portion of the marketing mix that is generally put in the too hard basket, and therefore becomes an untapped resource to many businesses.
Here’s five small projects to launch to help build your community further. They all offer a way to formalise and grow the “list” of contacts, let you create mini strategies to practice communication, and build on (and expand) your supporter-base outside of those you know.
Each one of these ideas can introduce simple technology to capture information from your community if you haven’t done so before. This can turn any of these projects into a new community group to connect with as a smaller group, or move them to your wider, broader community.
If you used all five of these projects, you’ll have impactful outcomes and cater to a variety of interests.
Creating freebies are perhaps the easiest of the lot! Sending your freebie out via a sign-up scenario means you capture an email address as a minimum.
Popular freebies include E-Books, webinars, podcasts, tools like calculators, discounts, printables or mini versions of a service/product like an audit or consult.
Save your work in easily accessible formats e.g. PDF files, downloadable Zip folders or links to hidden pages. Creating hidden pages on your website, giving access to a reader after they submit contact information allows you to communicate with them in the future. It’s also preferable to users wanting to download your freebie.
If your item is designed for at-home printing, consider what countries the user may live in. For example the USA still uses Letter page sizing. You may want to provide freebies in multiple sizes for this purpose.
Pop up Facebooks are a great idea to contain a small group to WOW new people to your community, service them with some education or access to freebies and a supportive community. It also allows you to entertain them, provide great service from you or your team.
It also provides a closed area for you to market directly to them.
The key to success with Facebook groups is brand-relevant visually appealing and professionally structured content. Your time and effort needs to go into the group before it’s populated, allowing you to turn up Live instead of the stress of daily content creation. This is never fun!
Don’t delete your Pop Up group once the original purpose has run its course. Reuse the group repetitively, as you’ll find those who valued it the first time (plus those who may not have given their full attention, or needed better timing), won’t leave of their own accord. That allows you to add to your group quarterly or half-yearly with a membership number that impresses the viewer.
Short-term challenges can be great fun and you can pick up new fans or followers with savvy social campaigns when you run them.
In terms of building community online, challenges or short term activities draw fast interest and allow new fans to learn new and interesting details about you/business.
Just like any other campaign you run, lead-in time is everything! Promote it for a few weeks organically before day 1 to maximise numbers. Your email communication should be short, sharp and clear across the time of the challenge with your own example included each day.
Having people sign up to your challenge means you can communicate with them each day of the challenge and really expand details about what everyone needs to do. It also lets you add key information that participants need to know – as well as giving you cross-promotional opportunities.
Think hashtags for engagement, cross-platform participation with Instagram posts and Stories/Reels, and entertainment all the way.
Remind participants with scheduled email campaigns. Create these elements in advance so participants are reminded daily. This is really important as they may have signed up to your challenge some time back so will need reminders before it starts.
Selecting daily winners from participants is a great draw card, as is a collaborative challenge.
You can also run a short-term challenge in a Facebook group – or create a Pop Up Facebook group for this purpose.
We run small but low-priced workshops regularly. The feedback we receive from clients is that they enjoy and appreciate an intimate gathering of like-minded people.
It allows for a personalised approach, but also allows you to maintain a low budget in areas including venue, catering and print/marketing collateral requirements.
To secure the number of guests you need, follow an event plan rolling out over a 10-12 week period.
This is an ideal time frame to rollow out and publish a variety of events marketing information. Start immediately after you launch ticket sales and continue through to the date of the event.
This allows you to run one per quarter as part of a regular onboarding process. And don’t forget, this event could be a digital event with video conferencing or Live video in a private group setting.
If your event charges premium options only, then a bespoke private event is more likely to hit your target.
Along with allowing a higher price point, bespoke events generally offer an impressive location, experiential features, and membership options as part of the bonus package and are a big hit with women in particular.
Think retreats – spiritual or corporate in nature – providing elements that may be perceived as difficult to organise in a day to day circumstance, or that may be considered luxurious.
Include ticketing add-ons and offer varied pricing structures. Snagging guests early means you could sell out quicker with “early bird” options. And providing higher price tags for a distinct purpose are attractive and could include things like a VIP gift bag, meet the speakers or special access to additional experiences on the day.
The activity of community building can be a quick flash in the pan experience, that doesn’t take long for the audience to decide that you’re worth hanging around. But as part of a strong content marketing strategy it’s inevitably a long game and requires patience.
However, delivering on engaging activities that show reward or results to your community members are marketing activities a company can undertake for longevity. Yes it takes a long time to build a huge list. But once you’re in the hang of it and you include it in your activities, and regularly include your database, you’ll see the results.
It’s important to note these ideas are based on social media or events activities. These are areas of specialty at Social Ocean, and we get excited about helping clients create unique events, allowing them to start or continue building community. Check out our event services for more details about that.
Combine online activities with face-to-face events for a highly successful mix, that will assist in building your list and create raving fans!
Armed with over 20 years’ experience in the event management business, Kirsty Fields has co-ordinated everything from kids’ events to national sports games. After a successful career in sports, she embraced modern marketing and promotional techniques.
Her passion for training clients in social media, digital marketing and branding has been combined to present her multi-award winning business Social Ocean a bespoke events marketing agency.
Kirsty’s experience in event management and coordination, and the small business space, backed by her passion for marketing, makes her an ideal source for all things related to events, small business, marketing, social media and branding.
You can find a list of podcasts Kirsty has been featured on, on our About page.
This article was originally posted to the Words of Bek blog as a Guest Blog in 2019 by Kirsty Fields. Words of Bek is the namesake website by Writer/Author Becky Paroz for her book by the same name. The article has since been updated for currency to this publication.
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This cocktail recipe is for a delightful drink we recommend to make in bulk and in advance for a big gathering.
It’s the recipe for the most popular cocktail from Ebony’s 21st celebrations. And has also made an appearance as a quick and simple refreshing drop at the end of a long day.
It reminds us of our travels through the Middle East, where you get minty cool refreshing drinks just about everywhere.
What you need aka the Recipe:
To serve, we used a large drink canister with a built in tap which holds up to 10 Litres. If your container is smaller, reduce the liquid amounts in the recipe, at least by half.
Prepare the fruit infusion on the morning of your party. Typically you’d be using this cocktail for an evening event, but to maximise the flavour of the strawberries and mint, infuse them into the alcohol in the morning or as early as you can on the day of your party.
It only takes a couple of minutes to do, but you’ll be glad you did it.
Early morning infusion:
Step 1: Remove the top leaves of the strawberries and roughly cut them into chunks. There’s no limit to how many strawberries you can add.
Strawberry tip: We used 2 large punnets. If you plan to serve your cocktail with a ladle you could add more strawberries. Drink canisters with taps on them don’t allow for the fruit to pour through. Adding fruit into the glasses for guests, before they add the cocktail is a great idea to get extra fruity goodness in each drink.
Step 2: Tear the fresh mint by hand. It’s really important you don’t chop the mint with a knife. By using your hands, you’ll bruise the mint leaves more allowing the flavours and oils to infuse easily (and more of them). Don’t discard the stalks, include all parts of the bunch of herbs in your drinking canister.
Step 3: Add the sugar.
Step 4: Add the entire bottle of gin.
Step 5: Get a wooden spoon and stir. Stir all the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved.
Stirring tip: If you are unsure if the sugar has dissolved, you should no longer hear the sugar granules against the glass at the bottom when stirring.
Step 6: Leave to sit in a safe place until the party starts. Put a cloth or lid on your vessel to keep flies and bugs out of it.
Strawberry and mint infusing in the gin
Our mix infused for at least six hours before the party started. During the remaining time, we’d be setting up the party space and other cocktail. We’d also by buying ice to add in to the drink canister to cool it down for serving.
The ice doesn’t need to be added into the cocktail if serving during cold weather if your soda water and diet lemonade has been refrigerated.
If individual glasses will be served with fruit by ladle, adding ice to your mix of the glass makes your drink look great! We roughly added a quarter of a bag of ice – standard petrol station sized bag – when adding in the lemonade and soda water as ours hadn’t been refrigerated.
Our party was in July – the middle of Winter in Queensland – so the ice was needed to cool the soft drink added on the night. Due to lots of catering fridge space was at a premium, so we hadn’t refrigerated it. During Summer the ice will cool the liquid just as successfully, but the drink is not as nice or refreshing at room temperature.
Just as the party is due to start, add your 2 litres of soda water. We used the cheapest home brand option from the grocery store. Our original recipe has been altered through practice. It was changed to include the lemonade instead of soda water only, as we reduced the amount of sugar added for infusing.
We realised that the sweetness of the lemonade is necessary for a perfect balance. If you intend on using soda water only, because you think you should reduce the percentage of sugar used, you’ll find that you’re cocktail is a little flat. We’ve tested this out! You will need to add a full cup of white sugar to the strawberry mint and gin for infusing (at least) to get the balance of sweetness perfect.
All you really need is pretty glassware to serve your drink in, and a friend to “Cheers!” with. Enjoy!
Business Awards Season is such an exciting time in your life, journey and path to career success. Being nominated for an award confirms and builds your confidence of what you get out of bed to do each day. It’s exciting!
The benefits of participating in awards season is constant. You have the ability to leverage awards for years to come!
I’ve won significant awards throughout my career and made it to Finalist shortlists in others. I still reference these milestones – or leverage them – as they provide excellent social proof of your skill set and business capabilities.
The truth is people don’t get nominated for awards, become a Finalist or Win awards without first doing the work. Although it seems many people reap the benefits – they didn’t submit a piece of paper and get a piece of crystal for nothing.
If you’re one of the people who’s name appears on a shortlist right now – congratulations! Congratulations on submitting an application or for your nomination (or both). You deserve it. You should be proud. But most of all, you should be letting the world know about it.
For those of you who are savvy enough to have had help with writing your applications, I also applaud you for making that investment. You are likely to understand what a wonderful marketing/PR opportunity a Business Award can be for your career and the business.
Once your name gets printed on the ballot paper, so to speak, there’s a list of other actions you should do to support the nomination. After all, the judges are not likely to have heard of you before reviewing your submission. Depending on the Award system, there will be further steps the judges will take.
They’ll like do their research. Complete their due diligence. Look for project evidence or social proof. Particularly for Awards presented by Industry Bodies, Professional Associations or a National level. These trophies aren’t given out like lollies! A submission is not always going to be the only contributing factor in the decision process.
Business Awards with public voting, have a certain level of randomness. Not only is it important you nominate for the right category, but you’ll need to communicate to your community your participation to help get people to cast votes for you.
A lot of people won’t do any – or very little – research before voting for the popular categories. Yet you can put effort into checking off my tips below to turn random selection into educated votes. If you’re participating in one of the popular vote Awards programs like Ausmumprenuer you can help yourself get those Votes in!
Plus, you want to make sure judges are seeing how wonderful you are as they decide who gets their vote. This is on top of those random community casting votes with the categories they don’t have anyone they know listed.
Show us and share with us the proof your application isn’t a fluke – turn up online!
Below are 8 top tips of just some of the many I follow/do myself. Make sure your digital footprint has your best foot forward:
When was the last time you updated your About page or Media section on your website? Keeping these pages up to date with the very latest details is important. With your website potentially being the hub for judges to confirm what they’ve read about you, it’s important.
Be sure to reference projects you may have featured in award nominations. Having a client area, gallery or blog to promote this information, is great way to show this off. By adding this type of detail you can show off #allthethings you do that impress others.
Speaking with a judge from the International Stevie Awards, I was reminded that nomination can have as little as 3-5 minutes judging time. What this means is, if you don’t include further evidence of why you should be a successful nominee that’s all the time you’ll be given. Including an evidence document listing the points where further information can be reviewed is key. And your website is the obvious place for that to be stored.
Highlight your capacity for good and problem solving with your service/product information on your website. With new interest in you and your business, this is a great time to expand the details of your business. Remember new visitors or Followers aren’t aware of your history or how you help others. Share this information as though you’re talking to a brand new audience – because this is what is happening for you.
Have you written any blogs from your own experience or expertise? Do you have some half-written articles, sitting unpublished or as a draft?
A blog is an excellent way to support or highlight your activities. It also serves to educate your community if you’re writing simple helpful information. Which is a great service alone. Engage a copywriter if you need help to polish it off.
Hint: we have an excellent copywriter who can assist you! Get in Touch with us about that.
Give your personal profiles a thorough Audit. Including the social media profiles you keep private.
Review memes and funny questionnaires on your social media feed. Look through who’s tagged you on shared posts, as well as checking privacy settings of mobile uploads and photo albums. You can delete any of these items or consider opening business related posts from private to “Public”.
Social media profiles with cover photos are a good spot to use business branding without being sales oriented. And it doesn’t annoying your private connections with too much work chatter. Use an image that aligns with your branding,business name, services or products.
Choose a fabulous smiling profile photo of YOU on your personal profile is important. Even if you aren’t a fan of showing your face on private social media profiles. During the awards season – if not always, is easy enough. I recommend a great smiling photo all the time! But if you are only going to use an image of your face during this period of time, make it a great one.
People feel connected to you, and can you by looking at your profile photos. When judges are looking for evidence of your work, they can look in all sorts of places. Put your best foot forward by looking good all over the place!
Write engaging content that has branded imagery is going to show your business off well too. Forget mass-produced memes and quotes. Create them yourself, or get help from a graphic designer!
Use your work, services or products as the base to create your own social media artwork. You can do this easily by adding branded font to your photos. Or take your own quotes, catch-phrases or business language and make your own #quoteoftheday.
Hint: we have an excellent designer who can assist you! Check our design services here.
Think about what samples you mentioned in the nomination process. Talk about these and others that are similar throughout the period of judging in your content strategy. Discussing those examples that are relative to the categories you’re nominated for is clever. The trick is not to mention the awards connection at the same time in these posts. Put them into your posting schedule as though you were due to talk about them.
The fact you’re up for an award is great and you should be talking about it. But specific posts talking about award nominations is another type of post (see next tip). Leaving out mentions of your award participation can be as clever as including it.
Talk about those Awards! Use promotional material from the Awards like the logo, event listings and use them yourself. Add photos to share how blessed and excited you are! Also mention the work you’ve been doing to get to this point of success. When you share your wins, or how it feels to take part, or how humbled you are to share the stage, people get engaged in your journey. Especially if/when you make it to the shortlist or Finalist list.
Give us #allthefeels about you in this Awards program.
As you draw closer to the business awards announcement day, put in place a new social media campaign. This should be all about promoting your inclusion in the awards line-up. If you aren’t feeling confident in how to create a specialised campaign, book in for a social media workshop with our team to help you.
Good luck to all our friends, clients and connections who are currently nominated. I’ll vote for you where possible – and look forward to seeing how you go for the rest of the year.
