Carma is a Social Media Specialist. She's probably on Social Media right now, checking on her Facebook Ad metrics, scheduling posts, or doing some research for a new strategy...or she got distracted by cooking videos...
I haven’t blogged in a LONG time, but I wrote this on International Women’s Day 2023 because I want change and not tokens.
Read it, or don’t. I wrote it so I wanted to publish it somewhere.
Dear Business,
Don’t wish me a ‘happy’ International Women’s Day. FUCK International Women’s Day. Why would I be happy? I’m furious. I’m sad. And most of all I’m tired.
Fuck your themes, your breakfasts and your cupcakes – show me your board, your C suite, your pay gap (accompanied by the actionable plans to close it) and your parental leave policy (men are parents too, and when you don’t give them time off with their newborn, guess who picks up the pieces alone?).
Pay women the same as the blokes doing the same job.
Don’t wait for a woman to be exceptional before you promote her – we all know at least one man that is at best, average at their job.
In the workplace, women are likely to have:
Lower pay than male peers
Less superannuation
Less board/senior leadership representation
A dress code that specifically covers their wearing of underwear and/or shoes
Organised the fucking breakfast!
Seriously, if you’d like to show your respect for women, who just loudly have NOT reached gender equality (see list) then I suggest you go and make some organisational changes.
Come back with an event when you’ve got something to celebrate.
An actual advancement – because as much as I like breakfast, I’d prefer not to be considered lesser.
In case you forgot I’m addressing brands and businesses here – and not getting in a very long line to tell women what to do: I’m not saying attending or speaking at an International Women’s Day event is wrong, it’s not. Talking about issues is how we make progress. If your workplace celebrates you on this day, good. If it’s a token so they can feel like they’ve done something meaningful, they can, and should do better.
The fact that we’re out here not being equal even though we’re 50% of the population (hardly a minority) is a joke. And don’t think I don’t know I have privilege in my socio-economic grouping, skin colour and sexual identity. I know it’s harder to negotiate the gender gap for underprivileged women, BIWOC, and the LGBTIA+ communities.
I have kept this post about the gender equality issues women face in the workplace (it’s to businesses, remember) this does not diminish the issues women face at home, but no-one’s having a cupcake party in their honour in the loungeroom today, are they?
So honestly, I’m glad as a business you’re thinking about women today. But we need you to stop thinking of men as the default human every day. That’s what will bring us to parity.
The last year we feel the need to remember that women exist with a special day and special breakfast cannot come soon enough.
PS – to the businesses who nailed today, good job! I see you.
This time last week Adam Barrell, Monique Boucher and I were in Geraldton for the Tourism Council WA Regional Conference 2021, where we hosted breakout sessions.
What did we talk about?
Monique and I shared our experience with the Isolation Libation Tours (affectionately known as the ISO Tours) from a year ago (almost to the day!) and the impact they made on her business, those of the producers she featured, and that of her guests. More on that later.
In case you haven’t seen any of the tours, or you’ve forgotten who we visited – there’s some friendly faces in these slideshows:
The Wine Tour kicked it off with 7 venues! Nuts.
Next week we visited the distillers – 6 to be exact.
Then it was brewery mayhem – 4 breweries with 2 beer loving guests.
And lastly cideries (it IS a word) 5 of them spreading from the Perth Hills to the Swan Valley.
My Stuff
I couldn’t plan my words, because I knew if I had a script and I got lost I’d be in more trouble than if I just got up and spoke from the heart about a campaign I knew inside out. Slight panic attack when I realised our breakout was to be held on the main stage – eek!
I most wanted to get across that while much marketing activity is well-planned, well-budgeted and painstakingly produced; no-one planned for the shutdown and reactive campaigns on a shoestring can be just as powerful.
At a conference where you’ve presented on the same stage as the head of Tourism Australia, Tourism WA, and the Minister for Tourism, you know that there’s a lot of talent in the room – but a lot of the attendees are small businesses or solo operators, and they needed to hear about what we did because they could literally pick up a gimbal and go out and replicate it tomorrow. With no budget.
It was so great to be able to include some short videos of the producers and one of our ISO tour guest and current Beer Chats With Brewers co-host, Daniel Rootman to show our audience so they could see that the campaign wasn’t just a hit for Monique’s business, but actually created sales and interest in the breweries, cideries (a WORD), distilleries and wineries.
Barrell’s Bots
In Adam’s session he championed the data capacity and time-saving automation Chatbots offer with practical examples that could be adopted by the tourism industry. RIP his inbox.
Bet he’s scheming up a way to automate his emails now as I know he’s had a tonne of enquiries for building custom chatbots since the conference.
The Journey
We drove up in a Tesla, making the road trip a lot of fun! We stopped to charge the car in Cervantes and had lunch at The Lobster Shack (a must-do) but unfortunately the charging station there was a bit slow.
So that we didn’t run the gauntlet making it to Geraldton on less charge than we’d anticipated, we stopped again in Jurien Bay where we caused quite a scene at the petrol station.
Sufficed to say, they remembered us on the way back home. Ask me about the story and I’ll tell you but for now I think I’ll leave it at that.
I drove The Tez home, and at one point nearly made Adam sick. I’ll leave that there too, lol.
We stayed at The Gerald, which we can recommend. Not just because it’s modern and tidy, but it has 2 bars, and they have over 80 gins. A dent was made.
They also let you eat and drink anything in the minibar for free. How cool is that?
The Conference
The conference was well run and both the attendees and the wider Geraldton community were incredibly welcoming of us Perth & Peel mask wearers.
I really enjoyed hearing about Tourism WA’s #WanderOutYonder campaign and the “Holiday Here This Year” activity run by Tourism Australia. Our formal dinner was to be held outside but the weather had other pans and we ended up in a hanger.
This probably undersells how awesome the hanger looked, and the food was of a high standard. Funny to hear the Gero locals groan “oh, crayfish” as they eat it so often it’s completely lost its delicacy status there. Someone even told me “we prefer marron” to which I had to giggle.
There was an award ceremony, and I’d like to say a big congrats to all the award winners!
While we’re on the thanks and congrats train – let’s extend that to the organisers who made this conference happen in what would have been pretty stressful times. I hadn’t even packed til the day before as I was sure we’d be going into a regional lockdown. They must have had a tough time working and re-working contingencies.
And to those who came up to us afterwards to share feedback on our presentation, massive thanks!
We met some awesome people, and it sure is nice to be able to attend large events again.
We’re taking the ISO Tours on tour for the Tourism Council WA Conference 2021
I’m really excited to be sharing our experience of Hidden deTours’ ISO Tours with an even wider audience at the Tourism Council WA Conference in Geraldton next week!
From humble beginnings, to a campaign that reached the hearts of Perth people (and beyond) who were unable to venture out – to reaching over 91,000 Facebook users, the ISO Tours were fun (sure) but they also had a lasting impact on Hidden deTour’s business and Monique’s personal brand.
I think that’s the most interesting part. Actually there’s two ‘most interesting parts’
One:
As a marketer, sometimes we lose sight of one of the main goals of marketing – easing the path to purchase.
We get bogged down in metrics we can measure. Sales (when it’s not technically our job to sell) and brand messaging.
People now feel like they know Monique. They aren’t Googling tours, they’re calling her and excitedly shouting “Mon!” at her over the phone, and on the street, like they are old friends. Why would they want to tour with anyone else than their old friend Mon?
We forget part of easing the path to purchase is simply zigging – being noticed! Which in this case was standing out by doing something completely opposite to the others, being reactive. Which brings me to point two.
Two:
Not all successful marketing campaigns require strategy. THERE! I said it.
Monique and I could not have planned this campaign. Well, we could have planned something similar, but it never would have taken off…this campaign was successful because it was in response to our situation.
In our short lockdown there were phone conversations about what people were missing out on, online chats with producers who were wondering what the future held for their businesses, and we all had a lot of time on our hands and not much to fill it with (except anyone trying to work from home and home school children – props to you, you talented weirdos) but most brand and businesses took time off.
Nothing wrong with that!
Zigging
It’s hard to keep going amid a sea of refunds, re-booking questions that you can’t answer, and general feelings of dread while the money stops coming in and the bills keep coming.
Even if you could “pause” your business (I’ve heard this term used although I must say I don’t really know how you pause a business…) simply taking some time off is certainly understandable and probably very healthy.
Instead, we did 4 ISO Tours over 4 weeks, creating a total of 20 broadcasts LIVE to Facebook.
It was a hit!
The producers loved it because they were reduced to takeaways only (in the beginning limits even applied to the amount of alcohol you could buy at a time), not offering tastings, square metre restrictions, sign-ins, sanitiser and a lot of confusion and worry. We asked people to pre-purchase the products we’d be tasting and many people did – one group drove around in front of us during the Bickley Wine ISO Tour and stopped at each winery to get takeaways before we got there and went home to watch the re-play.
So this did result in actual sales for our venues, what a win!
Punters loved it because they were feeling a bit cooped up and they could experience a very organic feeling tour with an experienced guide who clearly knows her venues well – and the relationships show through. This is part of what made this such a long-term success, if Monique was an average tour guide this wouldn’t have done such wonders for her business – but you really get to see what it’s like being on tour with her.
The press loved it because there was nothing for them to talk about. No events, no sports, no movies…nothing. So we got pretty much covered by all media in the beginning (this changed as the lockdown restrictions progressed, but we’d already been noticed by then)
Check ’em out
You can see the tours on Monique’s Facebook page, and they’re also on IGTV and the Hidden deTours YouTube channel.
Here’s a quick snippet from one of our slides just to show you the imprint these tours made on Facebook, from a page that at the start, was at around 1,800 likes.
So we’re off to tell a room full of tourism conference attendees about our tours – how it worked, why we did it, and how it’s had a lasting effect on the business.
In essence – taking our tours on tour!
We even get to road trip with our pal Adam Barrell of So Media Group, who’s going to speak about using Chat Bots in tourism marketing. I’ve seen a sneak peek of his slides and they are KILLER – so if you’re heading along to the conference make sure you sit in on Adam’s breakout (don’t worry – it’s not in the same session as ours so you can do both)
So I’ll be OOO next week as I soak up the conference vibes and stress about not being nervous until I get super nervous.
After it’s all done I might share the slides with you all if there’s interest.
PS – the shirt I’m wearing in our photo from a year ago in the feature image of this post? I can wear it as a dress now – just sayin’
Facebook Ads Click-Through Rate (CTR): How to Do the Math
Imagine you’re running a bake sale. You baked every treat with love, decorated your table to the nines and told everyone you know about it. Plenty of passers-by look at your setup, but they don’t stop to buy anything. Now, you have a lot of cookies left over and no money to show for it.
Facebook Ad engagement works in a similar way. You can make all sorts of noise about your product or service by investing in your Facebook ad impressions. But, if nobody clicks on your ads, was that spending worth it?
In most cases, no.
Unless you’re aiming to raise awareness, a lack of clicks means a lack of conversions.
So, how do you figure out how many users take action on your ads and how many scroll by?
Enter: Click-through rate, AKA CTR.
By understanding what CTR measures and how to calculate it, you can diagnose which of your ads get results — and which ones need more work.
What Is Click-Through Rate on Facebook Ads?
Click-through rate represents the ratio of people who clicked on your Facebook ad (link clinks) to those who viewed it (impressions).
How Do I Calculate My Facebook Ads CTR?
You can figure out your Facebook Ads CTR by dividing an ad’s number of link clicks by its number of impressions. Use this click-through rate formula:
Link Clicks / Impressions = CTR (decimal form)
After doing the math, you’ll get a decimal number. Multiply that number by 100 to convert it to a percentage. For example, if you calculate 0.12 as your result, you have a 12% CTR.
Keep in mind that Facebook Ads Manager will calculate the CTR of an ad for you. This formula helps you conceptualize CTR and can help if you only have access to the link clicks and impressions data.
What Do Link Clicks and Impressions Really Mean on Facebook?
If you dig around Facebook Ads Manager, you’ll see a wide range of terms used to measure your ad performance, including the two key factors behind CTR — link clicks and impressions. With so many other terms, like engagements and all clicks, used in Facebook Ads, what do those two concepts mean according to Facebook’s logic?
Link clicks refer to the number of clicks on the link that you want your audience to visit, including destinations on and off Facebook. In other words, if your ad’s CTA is to message your page, you’ll get a link click when someone clicks on the button to do so. The nature of your destination or clicks on other parts of your ad will not skew your link clicks statistics, making it ideal for calculating CTR.
Impressions count as the first time an instance of an ad appears on someone’s screen. As the Facebook Help Center explains it, you’ll get one impression if someone scrolls past your ad and scrolls back up and two impressions if the ad appears two separate times in the same day.
Overnight Facebook implemented restrictions on publishers & Australian users sharing or viewing Australian & international news content.
So people opened their business pages this morning to find that the page was still there – but the content was gone. All gone – not just the news posts, but photos, the cover photo and everything.
It’s still all there of course, but we can’t see it here in Australia.
After contacting Facebook chat support, it seems the distinction is pages connected to a site with an Australian news domain. So we qualify. In the same bucket as the big boys. Flattering…but a bit unfair!
Other fall-out
Some non-news pages have been wrapped up in this restriction like the BOM, DFES and some community health and NFP pages. As I write this some of them have been reinstated.
So what the heck is this Facebook News thing all about?
I’ll explain.
Facebook and the Australian government have been negotiating for years about paying for content. Here’s the “sides” of the argument:
In the red corner
The government’s stance is that news publishers should be paid for posting their content on Facebook.
The government claims that news is of value and should be paid for, ok – that’s fine, but advertising on news websites and paywalls pay for news content…
And there’s no coincidence this has happened the same week that Google had to get out its checkbook (or really just the coins in it’s centre console) to pay up for news content in deals it struck with Seven West Network and Channel Nine ($30m per year btw)
This claim supposes the money paid by Facebook – important distinction, not to the government, to the publishers (this has nothing to do with who pays how much tax where and when) will result in preserving the integrity of journalism.
Lofty.
IMO: Our government doesn’t care about the integrity of journalism. It’s quite clear by the way they’ve dealt with the ABC.
In the blue corner
Facebook’s stance is that the publishers are the ones posting content (they don’t have to – it’s voluntary) as a distribution method and therefor as Facebook doesn’t need the content and hasn’t taken the content (it is volunteered) then there’s nothing TO pay for.
News media get their clicks from distribution channels; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, etc. Facebook is just one of them. The balance of benefit it weighted towards the publisher and not Facebook.
The best analogy I hear is that it’s like the paper boy paying The West every time he delivers a newspaper. That’s not how payment works….the receiver pays – not the deliverer.
In Facebook’s statement (linked below) they make it clear that it’s unlike Google, and users must actively post their content on their platform.
IMO: Yep. It’s different to Google. But most publishers (good ones at least) make special effort to be displayed on Google, so while Facebook is completely different there as it’s a choice to post, what to post, when, etc I don’t think Google should pay for content either.
Some Facebook News Thoughts
The timing of this isn’t a coincidence!
Earlier in the week there was a post in my Facebook group from a member which I’ll share with their permission:
These screenshots were shared on the 12th of February with a suspicion it had something to do with the proposed law changes. I replied that I thought they would be testing the fall out on a small group of users and that the member must have been in that group.
I think Facebook knew this functionality wasn’t flawless and that they had to deploy it as time’s running out to negotiate/amend the laws (and not only time, but the government’s willingness to negotiate or bother to learn how the internet and social media operate) and they rolled it out anyway.
This did cause (and is still causing some) issues with non-news pages being swept up in the restrictions.
The Bureau Of Meteorology, DFES and several community health and NFP pages were restricted. As well as Buggybuddies, So Perth, Urbanlist, Perth Is Ok, Zac Kirkup and many more.
The BOM and DFES are back up now. Buggybuddies has put through an appeal, but probably counts under the government’s very (deliberately) broad definition of “publisher” but we’ll update if and when we hear anything.
Facebook News Info, Resources, and Stuff I Collected
Click the images for the link to the original posts.
WA Premier Mark McGowan almost gets it.
Interestingly his page survived while his Liberal counterpart’s didn’t.
Adam Bandt misses the point…but does HAVE a point instead of rolling out the TAXES argument which has nothing to do with anything…
Betoota nails it from a publisher POV (as usual).
And, surprisingly they’re still able to post links…
The world is looking on with interest, and…bemusement?
So there’s the shitshow that was my morning, dealing with the shock and confusion of clients, peers and the public and now I’ve finally got all this post down I’m going to get back to work…while I still have work.
The Wash
Pages this has affected can’t post at all.
Even non-news.
Even Facebook Stories.
Support your favourite pages by signing up to their email databases as that’s the only way they might be able to share their content with you for a while (or ever?)
Before I go here’s my recommendations is this has affected your page/s –
Remove your website link if it would be considered “news” or a “publisher” based in Australia.
Change your page category from publisher to blog or community.
Wait and keep an eye on your support inbox.
Get in touch with us at hey@themarketer.news if you have a story on this to feature.
Join my group where I’m curating resources in real time, and if you’re in Perth and want to talk face-to-face, come along to our Grill The Marketer event Thursday the 25th. I’m sure we’ll touch on it briefly, lol!
And that’s good. We’ve earned a break. This year I think people will be making more of an effort than before on buying gifts (my feeling is that experiences are going to be VERY popular), cooking, catching up – nothing is going to seem as hard as it normally might because we’ve learned a bit more appreciation for each other and our freedom in 2020.
So there’s never been more pressure on your end of year marketing campaigns – whether that’s Christmas, or BFCM, or “New Year, New You” type things, you’re going to need to be onto it.
And Facebook’s not on your side – it’s been wonky AF since COVID started and even worse during the US election.
So here’s some stuff you need to consider to set your marketing campaigns up for success.
1. Define your ultimate goal & offer
Sounds easy enough. But your goal isn’t just to “get sales”. How many sales do you need to be profitable? How many units of stock do you need to move? What’s your expected last delivery date (hard one I know…) before your event (Xmas for example…)
What’s the best offer to achieve this?
If you’re using Facebook Ads (and I suggest that you do), what’s the best objective that will get you there? Is it Conversions, Lead Gen…do you have a catalogue set up, will you use dynamic ads? Video?
Once you know exactly what you want to achieve (eg – sell 123 units of abc at $456 by Dec 5 using 2+1 bundle + Free gift wrapping) you’ll start to see a clear path forward on objectives, set-up, targeting and creative.
2. Check your tracking & tagging
Yep ok – you have a Pixel you installed. But is it sending the right data? Does you plugin need an update? Has it switched itself off for no discernible reason?
Does it match your Google Analytics (or at least almost)?
Do you need more sophisticated tagging to help you record third party activity?
It’s all very well and good to measure, and make adjustments and optimisations based on this data – but if it’s not set up correctly you’re getting the wrong data!
3. Consider the user experience
Is there anything you can make easier/less confusing for the user so they can’t help but almost accidentally buy from you?
In order to do so you might need bespoke landing pages, more payment methods (Apple pay, Google pay, Afterpay etc) and clearly display your shipping info!
You might need to look at your site speed too, and any popups. If you manage to get people’s attention and initiate a sale, there’s not much that needs to go wrong for them to abandon it.
4. Speak clearly
Sometimes people forget that marketing is simply getting your message to the right audience.
A clever or catchy campaign slogan is good, but when writing copy it needs to be punch, emotive and relatable to your audience.
Remove unnecessary words. Use emoji. Treat the reader with respect – they’ve paid attention to you, now don’t waste their time.
5. Get eyes
Your marketing campaigns can’t work if no-one sees them. And sure, if you’re using paid social you’ll get them seen, but is anyone actually looking?
Don’t be tempted to blast your images full of text just because Facebook removed the 20% rule. Your creative’s job is to get attention from the target audience. Use what they like to see and they’ll see you.
6. Plan it out
You need to have all your ducks in a row. Plot it out on a campaign calendar. When are you launching, how long is the campaign? Is it phased? What are you key dates for messages? When are you sending eDMs etc?
A unified and organised roll-out is not only more powerful but less stressful.
And remember – this time of year is when people are en masse thinking of gifting – so your target audience is ALLLLLL over the place. Bear that in mind when crafting your campaigns.
There you have it folks – my TOP 6 tips on mapping out your campaigns! Now go forth and market!
Did I miss any? Probably – leave me a comment.
Have you got a campaign you love? Or one of your own you’d like to share with other marketers? Send it to The Marketer and maybe we’ll feature it!
I’ve asked a lot from my body this year – and it’s taught me a lot!
In October last year, on a whim I decided to start following a keto diet. I didn’t know that much about it and thought it sounded simple. It’s not really…I mean the premise is straightforward enough but the execution is more involved than I first assumed.
Essentially the way of eating (WOE) involves teaching your body to burn fat instead of carbs for fuel – like switching your car from diesel to petrol, and to do this you follow a macro ratio of 5% carbs, 25% protein and 70% healthy fats.
Look at me talking about macros! Who is this person?
I know I’ve lost some of you already and I promise this isn’t a diet blog so that’s really all the detail I’m going to go into about Keto. If you’re interested you can leave me a comment or get in touch and I’ll happily answer questions.
How is losing a significant amount of weight like marketing?
Many ways – here’s a list.
ONE: Have a goal
Have a goal, but keep it fluid. Things change and the original goal might not suit you as time moves on so review it regularly to stay on track.
Also set mini goals to break up the large goal into manageable smaller milestones.
You can’t achieve goals you haven’t expressed.
TWO: Decide how to measure success
Scales are easy to use, but they don’t give you the whole picture. You need to see how you fit in your jeans, what your percentage of body fat is, or measure yourself in inches to get a better picture of your progress.
Same with marketing – one source of data is not enough to make strategic decisions. Diversify your measurement tools.
THREE: Measure often, but don’t sweat the small stuff
You might check in with your marketing daily (just like getting on the scales) but are those real data points you need to consider as part of a wider trend? Or simply daily fluctuations?
Yes – you need to measure often to make sure you’re on track to your goals but don’t get bogged down in the daily results if you’re still meeting your milestones.
FOUR: Be consistent
You can’t eat one salad after a lifetime of eating donuts and expect that it’s going to have a huge impact (salads aren’t really a keto thing but you hear what I’m sayin’).
You have to be disciplined enough to show up consistently and work toward achieving your goals.
FIVE: Be realistic
You’re only kidding yourself if you think your bootstrapped start-up is going to be Nike in 6 months.
Set yourself up for success by keepin’ it real.
SIX: Have a plan for when you fail
Sounds fatalistic doesn’t it? But inevitably campaigns (and diets) fail. It’s what you’re going to do to fix it that’s important.
So you had some days with no conversion, or you ate a whole tub of ice-cream…ok – what now? How you recover is more important than beating yourself up that it happened.
SEVEN: Be accountable
It’s not “the recession” or “the algorithm” when your campaigns fall flat. The same way it’s not Christmas’ fault that you ate 3 slices of pavlova…those things might make success more challenging, but they aren’t a deal breaker.
There’s literally people out there killin’ it (in both a diet and business sense) so stop playing the blame game and take responsibility over the things you can control.
EIGHT: Optimise
As you get lighter you’ll have more capacity for exercise. As your campaigns run, you’ll have more data to optimise them. Same same.
Example? If you’re video has poor performance past the 1.20 sec mark, see if a re-edit can save you.
The longer you have been at it, the more you’ll make better decisions you’ll on adding activity to the mix.
NINE: Celebrate the wins
It’s important to take time to reflect on your wins. That goes for everything. There’s so much uncertainty around that it’s really important to allow yourself to feel proud/content/happy when you are getting results.
TEN: Ask for help
My final one in the list is one of the most important. Sometimes you’re too close to things to see them clearly. Or you might not have the technical skills that someone else in your network possesses. Ask for help!
We’re social animals and we can’t operate alone. You’ll be surprised how many people out there will lend you a hand, an ear, or some advice.
Thanks for indulging me in a little left of centre thinking, comparing my year of keto and 38kg weight loss to how to run marketing campaigns.
So since the COVID-19 outbreak has caused ‘Cancelfest 2020’ in my client list and I have some spare time up my sleeve, I’m making a list of things I can use this time for. And I’m sharing it with you in the hope it might help you manage your time and anxiety levels!
I’m calling it a Viral Checklist, but unlike most posts about ‘going viral’ on social media, this is a bit different.
Here goes!
Write more
I get lazy and don’t write much, but I LOVE writing, so I’m going to make more time to do that. I might also even try and pick up a book or two. Shantaram has been on my list forever but I fell out of love with reading as an adult…
Send me your book recommendations and also any topics you want to read about from a social media marketing perspective!
Clean out THAT cupboard
We all have one of THOSE cupboards…and I’m going to clean it out! I mean how long do I need to keep stuff that’s still in a box from when we moved into this house…11 years ago!
I think it’s time.
Be part of the solution
I decided that since I had some time on my hands I’d try and be part of the solution.
I felt that information on the virus was very fragmented, and I wanted to be able to check in with one solid source for all the info I needed. I couldn’t understand why there wasn’t a clear voice above the noise to help tell us what to do!
So, I got in touch with my buddy Adam Barrell and asked if I could help him create a hub for WA Coronavirus information, and he was all for it.
As the Founder of So Perth, Adam has an engaged local community and was the perfect platform to use to help educate and inform our citizens.
He got to work, and we created a Facebook Group to share credible news on the virus.
There’s much more coming, but a start s a start and I feel much better from being able to put my skills to use during this time.
Give Blood
I’ve been a regular blood donor for years and I have that rare VIP blood group – O negative. What makes it so precious is that anyone of any blood type can accept transfusions from Oneg blood – so it can help anyone in a triage situation where testing isn’t an option.
I think our hospitals and clinics are probably going to need all the help they can get with blood donations, so if you’re able to – please consider it.
Hello 2020, I’m excited to meet you after a rough 2019.
I don’t normally write blogs about myself, but there’s a bit happening so I thought you’d indulge me this once.
2019 was a shocker and I’m pleased to see the back of that mofo. Credit where it’s due though – it gave me the kick in the guts I needed to come back fighting. So there’s that.
The first few weeks of 2020 have brought a change and are already shaping up to include some incredible opportunities for me and my business, which is entering its 5th year.
And even though it’s late February as I publish this and the year is racing away, it still feels new to me!
Exciting thing number one
I’ll be tutoring Social Media Marketing students at Edith Cowan University this semester alongside Dr Violetta Wilk.
I’m really excited that my long term relationship with ECU has blossomed into an opportunity to contribute to the future of my industry and give me a chance to do something I love – teach people about social media marketing!
So cheers to casual academia. I know I’m going to love it.
Exciting thing number two
I’m going to be doing some tour guiding!
It might seem a bit left of field but I have a background in hospitality and an enthusiasm for alcoholic beverages, so why not put my weekends to good use showing people around some of Perth’s hottest gin bars?
It’s like going out, but better for my health and my bank balance.
If you’re in Perth and you book a Gin Walking Tour with Hidden deTours, there’s a one in three chance I’ll be your guide.
Exciting thing number three
I’m taking control of my relationship with food.
I started following a ketogenic diet in late October 2019 and have lost approximately 18kg. Still a ways to go to my goal weight but it’s a good start.
It hasn’t always been easy to stay disciplined, but a combination of completely rethinking my food choices and getting back to the gym has made all the difference to my overall health and mental and emotional wellbeing.
So please excuse my coffee order if we catch up. It’s one of my biggest sacrifices and still a bit of a sore spot…
More big things?
I’m sure that these early 2020 opportunities won’t be the only ones to come my way this year. I’ve felt the shift, and I’m leaning in!
What’s your business or personal focus for this year?
Grill The Marketer, a Perth Marketing Event Like No Other
Your marketing questions answered. Live.
We ran two Grill The Marketer events in 2019 and the feedback was incredible – so here’s our 2020 dates so you can be prepared.
Not heard of it? Here’s the deal:
Are you sick of the same old marketing events? So were we.
So we are bringing you something different! No scripts. No sales pitches. No PowerPoint slides.
Just you getting your questions answered.
Clay & Carma will let you grill them and of course – there’ll be booze. And nibbles.
Melissa Bowen, Director of MeBo Media will be our MC, wrangling the crowd and making sure everything is in order on the night.
Grill The Marketer is a concept that came about from discussions with marketing event attendees who really just wanted their questions answered without the fluff and agenda.
Carma & Clayton founded The Marketer when they wanted to talk about marketing campaigns from an Australian (and especially Perth) perspective.
We are both experienced digital marketers who run their own businesses and decided to choose collaboration over competition to bring The Marketer to life.
Carma Levene (That’s me)
Experienced Social Media Marketer, Trainer & Strategist at The Social Chameleon.
I love to problem solve. With previous business management experience I understand my clients challenges and can support them to make Social Media work it’s hardest to bring them actual business outcomes.
I’ve been featured as a subject matter expert in Facebook Advertising on Social Media Examiner and Social Media Stategy on Socialbakers (among others) and have shared my experience guest lecturing at TAFE Metro, UWA and ECU to the next generation of marketers.
Clayton Smith
Digital Marketing Specialist & owner of Perth based agency Smith Social.
No matter the medium, I love great marketing. Whether it’s an amazing and engaging email sequence, a stunning logo or a brilliant billboard, creative and inventive marketing makes me want to run out and get my hair braided.
Cause that’s what it’s all about.
Get your tickets!
February 12th: Grill The Markerer III – Tokyo Drift
April 15th: Grill The Markerer IV – Reloaded
June 17th: Grill The Markerer V – Back in the Habit
August 12th: Grill The Markerer VI – Wrath of Kahn
October 14th: Grill The Markerer VII – The Last Crusade
