Guest blogging is one of the most underutilised — and often misunderstood — tools in a marketing strategy. Done well, it’s not just about “getting your name out there.” It’s about borrowing trust, whilst expanding your audience, and building brand authority in spaces where your audience is already paying attention.
But there’s a catch: Guest blogging only works when you treat it differently from your own content. As people passionate about the variety of content you can create to show up, we’ve explored some items for you work through to optimise your process.
Here are 7 guest blogging tips to help you blog properly, and strategically.
The biggest mindset shift in guest blogging? You’re not creating content for your business, you’re contributing to someone else’s audience.
That means:
This is an important understanding and what will help you make a strong guest blogging strategy work.
Note: If you like exploring different styles of content, and would like to change up the tone or level of serious-ness from your own blogs – this is your opportunity.
If you’re serious about guest blogging for business, this is essential.
Your content should always be published on the host platform first.
Why this matters:
One of the biggest benefits of guest blogging is visibility, and your bio plays a key role. As part of the decisions around your contribution, ask:
Your author bio is where a guest blogging opportunity turns into lead generation.
Note: We almost always decide against guest blogging opportunities if an author bio is not included.
A strong content marketing strategy doesn’t stop at publishing. Once your guest blog goes live, share it across:
This amplifies reach and reinforces your authority.
Creating a publishing process of the guest blog through your channels is also providing a service back to the publisher to increase the level of visibility you’ll have or get back from them.
Guest blogging can strengthen your personal brand, especially on LinkedIn. Adding your article to your profile:
This is a simple but powerful step many business owners overlook.
Yes, you can reuse your guest blog content — but timing matters.
Best practice:
This protects SEO while still supporting your long-term content marketing strategy.
Not all guest blogging opportunities are equal.
Before saying yes, consider:
The right guest blogging opportunities will:
When used effectively, guest blogging can:
Guest blogging isn’t about creating more content. It’s also not just about visibility, it’s about credibility with your curated and thoughtful content. It’s also about being marketing savvy by broadening your own audience with the assistance of another network.
Being intentional with where your content lives and how it represents your brand is clever, and is a powerful way to grow your business… by showing up well, in someone else’s space.
Artificial Intelligence has changed website design forever, and I genuinely believe that’s a good thing.
As someone who designs, audits and rewrites websites for small businesses, I’ve embraced AI as part of my own workflow. It helps me research faster, explore ideas, challenge assumptions and analyse content in ways that simply weren’t possible a few years ago.
But one recent website redesign reinforced something that’s becoming increasingly clear.
AI is incredibly good at creating content. It still needs human strategy to create a great website.
When More Content Creates More Confusion
A business approached Social Ocean after investing significant time using AI to generate a brand-new website. The content itself wasn’t poor quality. In many places it was informative, well-written and technically accurate.
The problem wasn’t with what the AI system used had written. The problem was that the website had become enormous.
Every page wanted to explain every service in minute detail. Topics overlapped, messages competed for attention and the customer journey became increasingly difficult to follow. Instead of helping visitors make decisions, the website was asking them to process far too much information before they even knew where to begin.
Rather than trying to edit hundreds of individual sections, we made the decision to step back and rethink the website from the ground up
Returning to the Customer Journey
The first question wasn’t, “How can we improve the copy?”
It was, “How do customers actually use this website?”
Someone needing an emergency repair has very different priorities to someone researching a new garage door. Another visitor might simply be comparing insulation options, while someone else is looking for compatible door openers.
Those people shouldn’t all have to navigate the same overwhelming page.
Once we understood the different customer journeys, the website structure almost redesigned itself.
Large, competing pages became focused service pages. Navigation became simpler. Calls to action became clearer. Instead of trying to rank one page for every possible search term, each page was given a single purpose and a much clearer message.
Less Content. Better Communication.
One of the biggest surprises was how little information we actually removed.
Most of the original content remained.
It was simply reorganised, rewritten and relocated so visitors could absorb it naturally instead of feeling overwhelmed by it.
The finished website contained many of the same ideas but presented them in a way that was easier to understand, easier to navigate and far more helpful for both visitors and search engines.
Sometimes good website design isn’t about writing more. But it is about helping people find what they need more quickly.
Building Strong Foundations
With the new structure complete, attention turned to the technical foundations that support a successful website.
We reviewed page titles, heading structure, metadata, internal linking, local business information, XML sitemaps, indexing, image optimisation and page performance. These aren’t the parts a website visitor ever notices, instead they create the foundation that helps search engines understand your business while improving the experience for your customers.
Interestingly, this stage also demonstrated another strength of AI. Throughout the project it assisted with audits, reviewed content structure, questioned SEO decisions and helped test ideas. Rather than replacing experience, it became another valuable tool in the decision-making process.
Technology Doesn’t Replace Strategy
Working through this project reinforced something I’ve believed for a long time. AI isn’t replacing good website designers, it’s actually making good website designers even better.
Technology can generate ideas, write first drafts, analyse pages and identify opportunities for improvement at remarkable speed. What it can’t do is understand your customers the way an experienced strategist can.
It doesn’t always know which message should come first. It doesn’t recognise when two pages are competing with each other. It also can’t tell when a visitor is becoming confused, or when a call to action appears too early – too late – or too many times!
Those decisions still rely on human judgement, business experience and an understanding of how people actually behave online.
Plus, it can’t account for client specific requests to override any or all of these.
The Human Experience Is Still the Most Important Part
At Social Ocean, every website starts with a simple question: “What does your customer need to do next?”
That question influences every decision we make. It shapes page structure, navigation, copywriting, layout, what the calls to action are, and ultimately the success of the website itself.
Search engines continue evolving because they’re trying to better understand human behaviour. The websites that perform well are usually ones that make life easiest for the people using them – and are clear with the way information is presented.
That’s why user experience remains one of the most valuable parts of website design. It isn’t just about creating something that looks professional. It’s about removing friction, creating confidence and helping visitors find exactly what they came looking for.
Currently, some of the worst websites we see have been built by AI. Especially in terms of visual presentation and customer navigation.
In future, websites will be built better by AI as it continues to evolve. But we can’t see the future of websites being built by AI alone. They’ll be built through collaboration – combining the efficiency of technology with thoughtful human strategy, creativity and experience. That’s exactly where Social Ocean sits.
We embrace AI. We use it every day. But we never let it make the decisions that matter most. Because websites aren’t built for artificial intelligence. They’re built for people.
Searching for an May 2026 social media calendar in Australia? The month of May is packed with opportunities to connect with family-focused audiences thanks to Mother’s Day, as well as health and cultural awareness days.
Want to know how to use this month’s dates? There are plenty of dates to help inspire you and balance out serious content with fun and quirky – yet still quality – ideas.
We’re often missing some fun and laughter within the seriousness of business or impactful charity work, and some of the dates found in this month could help with this. Read through the list of dates and pick out the ones that immediately make sense to your work. They’ll be easy to tie into your content planning. When it comes to well-known days across the year, an acknowledgement post might be obvious, but thinking outside the box could spark an entire blog or awareness piece.
💡 Tip for specialty industries: If you work in a trade or profession with an Australian governing body, it’s always worth searching for your industry’s specific awareness calendar as well. Those specialist dates aren’t included here, but they can be a goldmine for relevant, high-impact content.
Generating bigger, more substantial content brings more benefits than just showcasing thought leadership – it can greatly assist your website SEO, which Google loves! And when it comes to the fun stuff, take the lead and let those quirky dates spark creativity in your team too.
Remember, you don’t always need to include a sales push in every post. But if you can tie some of this month’s dates to your services or products, give it a crack. And if it all feels a bit whimsical, join a Social Ocean content creation workshop to build your confidence and up-skill at the same time.
3 Content PromptsStar Wars Day (Fun/Quirky) – ‘May the 4th be with you!’ Share a themed post with a playful twist – e.g. how your business uses ‘the force’ to create impact.
Mother’s Day (Awareness) – Celebrate mums in your community with a tribute, a client story, or a themed promotion. Encourage your audience to share their own stories.
National Sorry Day (Awareness) – Share a respectful acknowledgement and reflect on reconciliation. Link to resources or events in your community.
Want to bring awareness dates into your strategy without overwhelm? Book a Social Ocean workshop session, and walk away with your own ready-to-use reference plan.
Need a June 2026 social media calendar for Australia? June marks the halfway point of the year and is perfect for reflective posts, with highlights like World Environment Day and End of Financial Year (EOFY). It’s also a good month to introduce light-hearted content such as National Donut Day. See below for all of June 2026’s social media dates. We’ve given some additional context to some dates, as well as used others for prompts you could make your own.
Want to know how to use this month’s dates? There are plenty of dates to help inspire you and balance out serious content with fun and quirky – yet still quality – ideas.
There are plenty of dates to help inspire you and balance out serious content with fun and quirky – yet still quality – ideas.
We’re often missing some fun and laughter within the seriousness of business or impactful charity work, and some of the dates found in this month could help with this. Read through the list of dates and pick out the ones that immediately make sense to your work. They’ll be easy to tie into your content planning. When it comes to well-known days across the year, an acknowledgement post might be obvious, but thinking outside the box could spark an entire blog or awareness piece.
💡 Tip for specialty industries: If you work in a trade or profession with an Australian governing body, it’s always worth searching for your industry’s specific awareness calendar as well. Those specialist dates aren’t included here, but they can be a goldmine for relevant, high-impact content.
Generating bigger, more substantial content brings more benefits than just showcasing thought leadership – it can greatly assist your website SEO, which Google loves! And when it comes to the fun stuff, take the lead and let those quirky dates spark creativity in your team too.
Remember, you don’t always need to include a sales push in every post. But if you can tie some of this month’s dates to your services or products, give it a crack. And if it all feels a bit whimsical, join a Social Ocean content creation workshop to build your confidence and upskill at the same time.
3 Content PromptsNational Donut Day (Fun/Quirky) – Post a fun team pic enjoying donuts or ask your audience to vote for their favourite flavour.
World Environment Day (Awareness) – Share how your business supports sustainability. Provide a practical eco-tip or highlight a partner doing great work.
End of Financial Year (Awareness) – Encourage your audience to reflect on wins, tidy their admin, or invest in training. Share how you’re preparing for the new FY.
EOFY is the perfect chance to take stock of your marketing. Join a Social Ocean workshop to plan your next six months of content.
July kicks off the new financial year in Australia and includes NAIDOC Week – a key cultural celebration. Mid-winter can be a quieter sales season, so leaning on awareness dates can keep your socials lively.
See below for all of July 2026’s social media dates. We’ve given some additional context to some dates, as well as used others for prompts you could make your own.
Want to know how to use this month’s dates? There are plenty of dates to help inspire you and balance out serious content with fun and quirky – yet still quality – ideas.
There are plenty of dates to help inspire you and balance out serious content with fun and quirky – yet still quality – ideas.
We’re often missing some fun and laughter within the seriousness of business or impactful charity work, and some of the dates found in this month could help with this. Read through the list of dates and pick out the ones that immediately make sense to your work. They’ll be easy to tie into your content planning. When it comes to well-known days across the year, an acknowledgement post might be obvious, but thinking outside the box could spark an entire blog or awareness piece.
💡 Tip for specialty industries: If you work in a trade or profession with an Australian governing body, it’s always worth searching for your industry’s specific awareness calendar as well. Those specialist dates aren’t included here, but they can be a goldmine for relevant, high-impact content.
Generating bigger, more substantial content brings more benefits than just showcasing thought leadership – it can greatly assist your website SEO, which Google loves! And when it comes to the fun stuff, take the lead and let those quirky dates spark creativity in your team too.
Remember, you don’t always need to include a sales push in every post. But if you can tie some of this month’s dates to your services or products, give it a crack. And if it all feels a bit whimsical, join a Social Ocean content creation workshop to build your confidence and upskill at the same time.
3 Content PromptsNAIDOC Week (Awareness) – Share resources or highlight First Nations voices in your community. Show respect and celebrate culture.
World Emoji Day (Fun/Quirky) – Create a fun post using only emojis that represent your business. Ask your audience to guess what they mean.
International Day of Friendship (Awareness) – Showcase partnerships, collaborations, or strong client relationships that have supported your journey.
Keep your winter content warm! Sign up for our newsletter for fresh inspiration each month, or join a Social Ocean session to create a seasonal content bank.
In 2017, I didn’t start Ocean Network as a “network.” I started it because I needed help.
At the time, I was launching Social Ocean and trying to turn years of hands-on experience in social media into a real, viable business. I had just come out of managing more than 60 social media profiles using corporate-level tools—systems that, if I were to purchase them myself, would have cost close to $30,000. My startup budget was $1,000, so I had to think differently.
Instead of buying tools, I built access to people.
Ocean Network began as a simple Facebook Group. I added people I trusted—business owners, experienced professionals, and leaders I respected. People I knew would give honest answers if I asked a question. For good measure, I also added some of my closest friends and family, because every startup needs a balance of strategy and support.
Within 24 hours, there were just over 50 people in the group.
That group became my sounding board. I used it to test branding ideas, refine services, ask questions, and work through decisions. I couldn’t be more grateful to every person who said yes to being part of that early stage, because their input played a role in helping me build what Social Ocean is today.
About eight months later, at a social Christmas gathering at The Belvedere in Woody Point, a conversation shifted everything. I was talking with my great mate Leanne Blaney and our friend Tenille about how I was wanting more from business groups locally. What I had experienced elsewhere, and what I knew was possible, simply didn’t exist on the Redcliffe Peninsula.
To my surprise, both Leanne and Tenille felt exactly the same way. By the end of that conversation, we had agreed to create what we were looking for, not just for ourselves, but for our local business community as well.
Naturally, the next question was what we would call it. I shared that I already had a Facebook group filled with the exact kind of people we wanted to bring together, and how easily it could grow. The only hesitation was the name. It was called “Ocean Network,” a name I had originally chosen for myself, as most things I create tend to include the word “ocean.”
Both women immediately connected with it. It made sense for our location, for the community we were building, and for the feeling we wanted the group to have. So we kept it, and Ocean Network became something much bigger than just my original idea.
Not long after, I approached The Belvedere, who jumped at the opportunity to host a regular business group at their venue. They have been some of our biggest supporters ever since.
Our first event was held in February 2018, and what had started as an online space to ask questions became a room full of people doing the same thing, just in real time.
Over the years, Ocean Network has evolved while staying consistent where it matters most.
In 2018, we held one morning and one evening event per month. But with low numbers at evening events, we shifted to morning only.
In 2019, Tenille moved interstate, and Leanne and I continued on together.
In 2020, during COVID lockdowns, we moved to Zoom meetings, maintaining our fortnightly rhythm and even welcoming interstate presenters into the space.
In 2022, while The Belvedere underwent major renovations, we temporarily hosted our events at their sister venue, The Komo.
In 2024, we moved to a new space within the venue, which improved accessibility, comfort, and the overall experience for our guests.
In 2025, we held our first event outside of The Belvedere or The Komo, with a visit to Queensland’s Parliament House thanks to one of our original members, and now local MP, Kerri-Anne Dooley. The following month, we celebrated our 150th event milestone.
Now in 2026, we mark nine years of Ocean Network. Nine years of showing up, twice a month, from February through to November each year.
Ocean Network has never just been a networking group. It has always been a space where people can ask questions without hesitation, share knowledge without ego, and stay connected to others who understand what it takes to build something of their own.
What started as a workaround became a community.
If there is one thing I have learned through Ocean Network, it is that you do not need more tools. You need the right people in the room.
To the original members, to every attendee, speaker, supporter, and venue partner, and to Leanne and Tenille for saying yes in that early conversation, thank you. You didn’t just join a group, you helped build something that has lasted nine years, and continues to grow.
Ocean Network still exists in the same place it started, as a Facebook Group, continuing to connect business owners who value conversation, insight, and support. With refinements over the last nine years, it’s a space for event attending guests to post about anything they find relevant to their business or to others.
And it’s the place where all our events are announced and invitations sent from.
If that sounds like the kind of space you’ve been looking for, you’re always welcome to join us. Simply use your personal Facebook profile to send an invite: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheOceanNetwork
Buying a business is a major milestone, but for many new owners, social media quickly becomes one of the most confusing and stressful parts of the transition.
If you’ve purchased a business and found yourself locked out of Facebook or Instagram, unsure who owns the Meta Business Manager, or overwhelmed by requests for logins, permissions, or two‑factor authentication, you’re not alone. Social media ownership issues are one of the most common – and least anticipated – problems new business owners face after settlement. Especially when we see the business we’re buying have high/successful Follower counts!
At Social Ocean, we regularly support new business owners across Australia – including Redcliffe and the Moreton Bay region – to recover, untangle, and properly secure their social media and Meta business accounts so they can move forward with confidence.
When a business changes hands, its digital assets don’t always transfer cleanly. Especially with social media.
We frequently see situations where:
What looks like a “simple login issue” often turns out to be a structural ownership problem that requires careful recovery and verification.
Over the past year, Social Ocean has assisted multiple new business owners – each with very different social media access challenges.
In one case, issues stemmed from a combination of simple setup errors and limited communication during the sale. As a result the new owner started renaming existing accounts after rebranding without understanding the importance of naming conventions, created duplicate social accounts by accident and got tangled up with syncing issues between wrong/right accounts and platforms. By mapping the accounts out, and identifying ownership and access of each was integral to the final solutions.
In another, the business had been granted access through multiple pathways over time. Initially though the new owner didn’t understand how Meta permissions, security checks, and two‑factor authentication worked together across multiple email accounts and dashboards. It made the process feel overwhelming and impossible to finalise – so it had been left only partially completed. Another team member had successfully gained Business account ownership, but the owner themselves were lacking overall ownership and access, leaving them vulnerable.
In a third situation, access to the Meta Business account had been left with a junior staff member when the business was sold. This left new owners unable to access and transfer correct ownership at all, which meant they couldn’t properly access to manage or own their own Meta assets. Using a business email login was the only way to log in with the lowest editing access option and they were left with complete inability to schedule anything.
And another business, the accounts had been hacked.
Each scenario required a tailored approach — but all shared one thing in common: the new owners had inherited systems that were never designed for clean ownership transfer. And over the years, the variety of problems we’ve assisted with is even more vast.
Your social media accounts are not just marketing tools, they’re business assets.
Without proper ownership and control, your business may be exposed to:
Ensuring your Meta Business Manager and social media accounts are correctly owned, secured and documented protects your business now and makes future growth, staffing and succession far easier.
Based in Moreton Bay, Queensland and supporting clients across Australia, Social Ocean specialises in supporting new business owners through social media and Meta account recovery by:
We translate complex systems into plain English and provide calm, practical support at a time when business owners are already juggling a lot.
Bought a Business and Unsure Who Owns the Social Media Accounts?
If you’ve recently purchased a business – or are in the middle of a transition – now is the time to make sure your social media and Meta accounts are properly set up and fully under your control.
If you’re in the middle of a transition, our advice is to complete handovers prior to the end of communication with the Seller, in the presence of the Seller or their representative. It’s not good enough to trust the Seller when they say, “Yes – it’ll be done for you, no problem”, because business owners aren’t necessarily equipped with the skills to know how to help complete the process.
Social Ocean supports new business owners across Australia, including Queensland and the City of Moreton Bay, to transition access, secure ownership of the Meta accounts and move forward with confidence.
Get in touch with Social Ocean today to discuss social media and Meta Business account access support.
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!
