By HARRY CLARKE | SPONSORED
Thanks to the Business Navigator program from Shell QGC and the Western Downs Regional Council, VERY POPULAR workshops are returning to the Western Downs next month, providing small business owners with expert guidance on how to make the most of social media opportunities.
Hosted by renowned marketing, social media and small business coach Tracy Sheen, the free workshops will be held in Chinchilla and Dalby March 13-16 and are open to small business owners of all social media experience levels.
By popular demand, Tracy’s Stepping Up Your Social Media sessions are back.
Tracy, an award-winning author with 30 years experience as a small business digitization coach, delivered workshops on the Western Downs last October to universal praise from attendees.
Tracy Sheen, renowned marketing, social media and small business coach, hosted workshops at the Western Down last October. PICTURE: Delivered CLICK HERE FOR BOOKING INFORMATION
Tracy said the forthcoming round of workshops would offer an even greater range of tips and strategies to help business owners and entrepreneurs get the most out of a range of social media business tools.
“A lot of what I do is helping basic users hone their skills — people who aren’t really familiar with social media at all,” she said.
“One of the most popular workshops we’re going to do is from those basics, and then we’re going to do something more of an advanced one that covers paid advertising, boosting posts and stuff like that.
“We’re also adding a few other workshops to the mix — one about Canva, a design tool for business owners, and the other will be on social media strategy.”
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“The strategy workshops are really about building a community, how you build a marketing strategy and ask yourself, ‘What are you trying to accomplish by posting and using social media?’ and ‘What is the difference between organic and paid social media reach?’ It’s about how you develop a call to action — that sort of thing,” Tracy said.
“In the Canva workshop they will create some tiles to use on social media and in the paid advertising workshop they will learn what is currently working in terms of boosted and paid campaigns and which business owners are better off procrastinating their time. energy and money.
“Canva has what we call a ‘freemium’ model that starts for free and transitions into paid versions depending on how much you want to delve into the Canva rabbit hole.
“It allows you to have a really consistent brand across all of your marketing. They have pre-made templates for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, for brochures, flyers – you name it. You can just add your own branding, colors, fonts and images and create that continuity of messages across your platforms.”
Workshops at CHINCHILLA – RSL Workshops at DALBY – Bunya Vista CLICK HERE FOR BOOKING INFORMATION
Tracy Sheen began her career in enterprise technology over 30 years ago, as a former employee of Telstra and Optus and a contributor to David Koch’s Building Business program, she was involved in the Australian adoption of disruptive technologies such as SMS text messaging and the iPhone.
A social media and marketing coach, she has delivered around 2,000 workshops and webinars across the country and authored The End of Technophobia, which won Australian Business Book of the Year and Best Technology Book at the 2021 Australian Business Book Awards.
She said that although the internet has been a part of everyday life for more than two decades, most business owners belonged to the non-digital demographic who grew up with the internet.
“About 63 percent of ABN registries are over 45 years old, so we didn’t grow up with technology, technology happened to us,” Tracy said.
“Many of the companies I work with in regional areas may be in agriculture or in an industry that they haven’t felt the need to use social media before.
Tracy Sheen, who has over 30 years of experience in digital marketing coaching for small businesses. IMAGE: Delivered
“Possibly there has been a lot of word of mouth in the business world and only now are they saying, ‘Wait a minute – I need to diversify where my customers are going’ or ‘I need to understand where the marketing is going’.
“A lot of them might have their own personal Facebook page, but they haven’t really used it in a business sense, so they don’t understand what the difference is between a personal page and a business page, what the anatomy of a post looks like. There are still many people who don’t understand hash tagging or tagging others in posts.
“The Social Media for Beginners workshops are probably still the most popular workshops I lead across the country.”
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Tracy said she looks forward to returning to the Western Downs next month, where her previous workshops have reflected a collaborative and enthusiastic community of local small business owners and entrepreneurs.
“The workshops are very practical. You have to come with the expectation of being able to work,” she said.
“I strongly believe that one should embed learning while studying and there are no such thing as stupid questions.
“We have a lot of fun, it’s very engaging. I want to know exactly who is in the room and what industry they are in so I can give practical examples as the workshop progresses and really give people “hot spots” to really understand what we are doing and who they are for can create that content while they’re there.
“The only thing I loved about the Western Downs was the community spirit. As we entered the room it was really great to see everyone ready to reach out and help each other.
“Even in some of the workshops where people started from a very low base, we had more experienced people stepping up to help them. At the end of a few sessions, everyone followed each other and started mentioning and tagging other companies in their posts.”
Feedback from guests at Tracy Sheen’s previous workshop round at the Western Downs: CLICK HERE FOR BOOKING INFORMATION
Business Navigator Western Downs is powered by Shell’s QGC business and provided by Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise. The social investment programme, supported by Shell’s joint venture partners Tokyo Gas and CNOOC, contributes to a strong and diverse economy in the Western Downs.
The program was developed in consultation with Western Downs business communities who said they value a strong, diversified economy; Business Navigators is designed to support and empower local small businesses to grow sustainably.
Business Navigator is now accepting new program participants for 2022. Visit the Western Downs Business Navigator website for more information.
