Mediaboss Marketing

Social networks dont feel so social anymore. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and the rest seem to be leaning ever further into entertainment and away from helping people find and chat with others like them. But Glass is hoping to be different. The new photo-sharing social network is determined to find a better, less problematic, more social way to network.

Glass co-founders Tom Watson and Stefan Borsje have both worked in tech for years and have seen the pitfalls that come to social apps. So theyve set out to build Glass very differently. Theyre not taking VC money, theyre not prioritizing growth and engagement above all else and they wont even show you how many times people liked your photo. In the process, they hope theyre building something photographers might actually want to use.

Watson and Borsje joined the Source Code podcast to discuss Glass, the state and future of social networking and what it takes to build something different.

You can hear our full conversation on the latest episode of the Source Code podcast, or by clicking on the player above. Below are excerpts from our conversation, edited for length and clarity.

Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Pocket Casts

A theory I've always had is that you can tell the story of the internet through photo-sharing apps. You have Flickr, you have Instagram, you have all these different photo communities over time. Why do you think it is that photos have been such a core part of how the internet has evolved?

Tom Watson: I think it's that it's such an easy thing to share. You can take a photograph and immediately put it online, and it tells a visual story.

These days, it's just such a quick way to do it. Video is incredible, and you see it becoming more and more important with things like TikTok and YouTube. But the photo can be a very quick consumption experience as well; it just takes a second to look at it.

One thing I've noticed about Glass is you seem to have a very clear idea about what you don't want to be. And I think we're now more and more clear about what the traps are that companies and products fall into, that take them away from being the things that they originally were. So I'm curious: Was there a moment where you had to sit down at the beginning and, like, write on a whiteboard or a Google Doc, Here's what would turn us into Instagram? A what not to do list?

Watson: We wrote down a list not of what not to do, but more of a list of what we wanted to be. We want to be this community, we want to be a photo-sharing service. We want to build upon those things and focus on the market of photographers, and less on the things we knew we didn't want to be. But we did know that there were certain, like you said, traps.

So its more like, OK, so we're not going to take on outside funding. And that was a real thing. Weve been offered that through the process, and it's really tempting when you're struggling and you're trying to build something like this. But the expectation that that funding would bring into what we're trying to build just wasn't in alignment with it. If there was an investor that had a particular mindset, sure, maybe, but even then we have really held true to that view that we know we're going for a smaller market. We know we want to have independence. And in order to do that, we need to not take on additional investors.

We want growth and engagement, but exponential growth and engagement is something we're very much not into. But that's the expectation that venture capital money ties you to. And so you need to build a product that needs to do that; you need to chase that growth in any way possible. I worked at Facebook from 2009 to 2013, and then Pinterest from 2013 to 2018, so I've seen what the expectations there are for those types of companies. We just wanted to intentionally build something different, and, in order to do that, required a different business model.

Community has been an internet buzzword for forever. And community's a challenge. It's a hard thing to do from a straightforward content-moderation standpoint, it's a hard thing to create a culture inside of an app. And figuring out even what you want that community to look like, and how to incentivize it the right way, seems like the kind of thing you really have to do from Day One, or else it's just going to be a losing battle forever. So what was the stuff at the very beginning where you were like, Here's what we want this community to look like?

Watson: The focus specifically was, all right, we want it to be a safe and trusting environment. So we invested upfront in reporting and blocking from Day One, which are traditionally not startup features that we would do. We just needed that base level; trust and safety needs to be a huge part of our community. We also were upfront with our community guidelines and rules. And then we obviously hoped that by bringing in alpha and beta testers into the service, we could really set the tone of what the community would be like before we opened it up to a broader audience. And I think that was really important.

And then its just modeling the behavior. You can set up all these rules, you can set all this content moderation and stuff, but what you see when you walk into the space is really important. It like sets the tone for you, unless you have great photographers, big photographers, people who are active in the community commenting, really being engaged those were key decisions for us before we just opened the doors like, Here's an empty space, let's hope it all works out.

I think I spent at least eight months talking to photographers while we were building it. And we would just get on a Zoom call during the pandemic, people had some time and wed just chat with them about what's going on, run them through the product, talk about the choices. We didnt always have a product yet, so it was just what their needs were and what they would hope from a community like this.

What were the photographers telling you in those early days? I asked a bunch of people what I should ask you, and my photographer friends overwhelmingly said: Why do all my photos look so bad on every web service? And can Glass fix this awful image compression that exists all over the internet?

Borsje: I think it's mostly just an economics question, to be honest, because bandwidth is not free. And especially if you have a large audience of viewers, you end up consuming a lot of bandwidth on the viewing side, obviously, especially if you have high-quality pictures. And I think for most platforms, it's probably a trade-off between what is good enough and what keeps our costs under control. And I think in our case, because our community's a little bit different our community consists of a higher percentage of creators and I think a lower percentage of consumers I think you can get away with spending a little bit more time and effort.

So we can afford to show high-resolution photos. Especially on the web version of your profile, we go through a little bit of extra effort: We load one lower-resolution photo first and then try to switch it to a high-resolution one as soon as the browser has it. So I think those kinds of tweaks are things that we can afford to do, because we're not as much of a mass-market channel as some of the others.

Would that calculation have to totally change if you get to 100 million users? Or is that one of those things that is so important to your users that you just have to deal with it?

Borsje: I think in our case, I would like to say that it wouldn't change because I think it's too important for our community to keep that around. So I would rather have a smaller group of viewers and optimize for the viewing experience than the other way around.

One big gate there just seems to be, It costs money. [Editor's note: Glass is $5 a month or $30 a year.] As soon as you charge something, you're going to immediately lose lots of people. And it seems like you, very smartly, are very happy to lose most of those people. If this is not a community you want to be part of, no hard feelings, it's just not worth it for you or for us. But I do wonder how that scales up and down.

Watson: One thing to note about when we talk about community building: One of the things that was a big factor in this is, when it's a paid-for service, you immediately have a different tone and interaction with the community versus something that's just free for anybody to just stop in on the internet. That has a very big impact on the way everyone interacts with us.

We haven't had to face massive content-moderation issues like I've seen in other social networks because we're a paid-for service. It currently requires an Apple ID to sign up, and that requires a credit card. And so you cant even be on a trial without a little level of commitment. And I think that helps us. I mean, its still a free trial, but you can't just create a random account with some random username and just give it a shot. I think that really has helped us with our community building.

How has that played out? People being nice to each other makes sense. But from a standpoint of, like, I've paid for this, I might as well try to make it good here, do you see that feeling play out in other ways across the app, too?

Watson: I think people treat each other a little better. Theyre more invested, literally, in the project. They want the space to be good. And I think that a lot of our members are getting really thoughtful comments, and they've been really responsive to our Appreciations thing, which is our version of liking.

Let's dig into that one a little bit. I think it has felt intellectually obvious to a lot of platforms and companies that, like, Oh, we should let people say that they enjoy something, and then all the decisions you make after that are a mess. So what was the goal of Appreciations?

Watson: I think the big goal was to remove, That's cool, It's great, Cool, and to create the comment space as a real area for discussion and community. So that was the impetus for it. Also, to improve engagement! We wanted people to be engaged in the platform.

We actually were kind of glad we launched without any; it was just comments. And we would get a lot of feedback saying, Oh, this feels really old-school. This feels slower, and I love it. And we would see some of that. We also saw a big increase in engagement when we did release Appreciations.

But we wanted to strip out some of the things that we felt were problematic with liking, or the quick positive feedback. And a lot of those have to do with tracking. We wanted Appreciations to feel like this moment between you and the other person. It's a private appreciation. We don't show counts on any part of the product, so it's just sending positive vibes or sparkles or whatever the icon implies to the other person. There's no FOMO when you go see someone else's post and see all their like counts, or their heart counts, or whatever.

If you appreciate even a comment someone's left for you, you see what's been appreciated, but nobody else sees that you've appreciated that comment. Those subtle changes make a huge impact on the way you feel on the products. A lot went into each one of those little choices and how we deliver it. But the big, overarching theme is that we didn't want it to be tracked or feel uncomfortable by using the product. It's almost like a private thing between you and the person.

As the photographer, can I see how many people have appreciated my photos? That seems like a tricky balance, too.

Watson: We worked through that, too. So if you go to your photo, there's a section that appears when someone appreciated your photograph. And it just says Appreciations. And then if you tap through, you can see all the people that have appreciated you. But it explicitly doesn't have a number associated with it. So there's not like, 15 people have appreciated your photo. And that's really different from the world in which everything's got all these counts. And so you could count them up, I guess, if you want to, but there's just a difference: It's a nice big picture of the person and their name, people that appreciated your stuff. And it works in a small community. It doesnt always scale. But it will scale to a very large number, right? Its not hundreds of millions, but we're happy with hundreds of thousands of people using our product, and that's the goal.

I want to talk about the balance between not tracking and not optimizing for engagement, versus discoverability, which seems like a key thing that a lot of services get wrong. My sense is you have under-optimized on tripping through Glass, finding new funky things and people that I might enjoy. There seems to be a lot of stuff you could do there if you wanted to, but when I go to my homepage, it's just like reverse-chron photos of people that I follow.

Watson: We have a lot of plans to improve discovery. Optimizing for clarity of what you're getting to see, I think, is really important to us. When we talk to people about other social networks, they get so frustrated, they don't feel like they have control over what they're experiencing on the platform. So we really want to optimize for your home space to be what you expect to see I follow these people, I get to see their content.

I think that's really important to us in the home space. But when you go to our Community tab, we want to work toward better ways in which we can surface you great photographers. Were exploring editorial ways of surfacing that stuff, as opposed to an algorithmically generated list or something. We'd love for photographers to explicitly express what type of photographer they are so that you could explore and find content that way. So we're looking into improving that space, because we launched with a very bare bones list of photographers. And we've since added categories, and you can discover things for categories, which is a good first step, but we have a lot more to work on there.

Borsje: One thing that, for me, personally, is always frustrating about recommendation algorithms is that they take away some of the discovery of new stuff that I'm not familiar with yet. I think you see it on YouTube, you see it on Instagram as well in the Explore feed. Once you've looked at a certain category of photos, you're just going to get bombarded with that. And that's it. And it's really difficult to step out of that bubble and see something else. And that would, for me, be a reason to be very hesitant about introducing, Oh, we're just going to show you what we think you like, because we might not even really be able to figure out what you like. You might not even know yet what you would like.

I don't think you open the Glass app to get hooked and just doomscroll for like two hours. I think you come to Glass to get inspired, to see something that you haven't seen before, to get new ideas of how I can approach my photography with new techniques or new styles or something that I just haven't tried or tested before. And that sense of discovery, I think that's something that's very important to us.

Read the rest here:
Glass hopes to be the photo-sharing app Instagram never was - Protocol

Recently, as I sat waiting to be called for my IELTS Speaking Test, I felt a strong urge to ask one of the people in charge of maintaining the exam conditions to ask for my phone back. This was strange, for the situation was not new to me. I had taken many exams before, and had to wait much longer than I did that day, that too without any devices to distract myself.

However, this test was a familiar one, and my wanting to just get it over with, made me unnaturally restless during the 30 minutes before which I was called. While the feeling surprised me, this need to turn to our gadgets at the slightest hint of boredom is one that has become more than common in the past decade.

Boredom, by itself, is universally considered an undesirable state to be in. It also seems to be ancient. A New Yorker article titled "What Does Boredom Do to Us and for Us?" mentions not just industrial age philosophers but Seneca from the first century who used "taedium vitae" to describe nauseousness at the repeated nature of life. It can be distressing and even excruciating, and this is a problem that plagues not just adolescents and adults beginning their work-life but older segments of the population as well.

We can get a sharp understanding of just how dire this state can be if we look at a 2016 BBC article mentioning the case of Frederic Desnard who sued his previous employer for "boreout", a term derived from burnout.

Furthermore, links have been found between boredom and adverse mental health conditions. A Washington Post article titled "Boredom's link to mental illnesses, brain injuries and dysfunctional behaviors" details how agitated people can be when bored, even for 10 minutes. This was indicated by an experiment where one participant shocked himself 190 times when placed in a situation with zero distractions.

It might seem like a paradox, but the whole issue seems to have been significantly exacerbated with the advent of the digital age where unimaginable amounts of content is produced every second.

A line that perfectly encapsulates the differences in reactions to boredom between past generations and this one comes from a Vox article called, "Bored and lonely? Blame your phone", where it says, "Because of the promises of the digital age, when we experience those feelings, we're more surprised and alarmed than our ancestors were."

The words come from one of the authors of a book called Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Changing Feelings about Technology, from the Telegraph to Twitter where comparisons are made between people of the 19th and 20th centuries and people today, in terms of how both groups felt about boredom. The author states that while former generations viewed monotony as an ordinary feature of life that couldn't be avoided, the potential of instant and constant entertainment and companionship provided by our devices today, make us feel worse when we feel bored and alone.

In addition, the lack of effort with which we are able to use social media is also to blame as it offers no challenges for us to overcome. A study at Kent State University found that the usage of social media increased boredom while self-selected schoolwork decreased it. The results might be shocking, but as members of this generation, we know all too well that this has a grain of truth.

References

1. BBC (July 26, 2016). Is there such a thing as 'boreout'?

2. The Washington Post (July 17, 2021). Boredom's link to mental illnesses, brain injuries and dysfunctional behaviors

3. Vox (May 5, 2019). Bored and lonely? Blame your phone.

4. Kent State University. Social Media Use Increases Boredom and Homework Decreases Boredom, Kent State Research Shows

Matilda sincerely believes it is always other people's fault. Tell her she's right at matilda.tilda1234@gmail.com

Read more here:
Boredom, and How Social Media Makes It Worse - The Daily Star

The world has changed, and the strongest tech founders dont need todays accelerators. They face new challenges and need new solutions. At Neo, were taking on the task of making the accelerator relevant to them again.

In 2008, Airbnb applied to Y Combinator as a lifeline: they needed the cash. If the Airbnb co-founders Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, and Nate Blecharczyk were starting today, they could get funding within days just by changing their Twitter bios to working on something new. They wouldnt need a three-month program with a demo day to raise money. Capital is more abundant than ever, and Zoom has made it easier to raise. Meanwhile, tech talent is scarcer than ever. Start-ups desperately need help recruiting engineers, which is what Neo does. Since 2017, weve built an awesome talent pipeline and convinced hundreds of star engineers to join start-ups.

Building on this track record, weve reimagined Neo Accelerators demo day to be more like a career fair. Instead of pitching investors, imagine pitching an audience of exceptional engineers and scoring meetings with candidates interested in joining you. Thats something every tech founder would want. Starting a company is a lonely experience, especially for people early in their careers, and Covid lockdowns have left us all craving human contact. Unlike any other accelerator, Neo kicks off with a monthlong all-inclusive retreat in Oregon, which were calling Neo Campus. Imagine living under the same roof and bonding with mentors and other founders over meals, hikes, and other activities.

What do you consider innovative now? Talk about specific areas that are under-hyped and overhyped.

Whenever I make predictions, Im usually wrong. I prefer to bet on people smarter than myself and trust them to figure out what to build. With that caveat, there are two areas Im very bullish on in the post-Covid world.

The first is any technology that supports the redistribution of work and wealth from a few concentrated cities to the rest of the world. For the first time in history, prosperity has been decoupled from physical location knowledge workers can be productive from anywhere. This means workers can relocate and work from wherever they want; and employers can hire new workers from all over the world. This is a seismic shift; it may take decades to realize its full scale.

Second, Im bullish on anybody building a new social network. During the pandemic, we saw amazing tech solutions rise to meet our needs. Physical meetings became impossible, so Zoom filled the void. Office conversations became impossible, so Slack filled the void. Making new friends and socializing at parties became impossible yet nothing filled the void. While Zoom and Slacks traffic skyrocketed, Facebook and Instagrams did not. Facebook is the new Myspace. Meanwhile theres an enormous human need that isnt being met, and a trillion-dollar opportunity for whoever reimagines social networking.

At Neo Accelerator, you are stressing diversity and also youth? Are you essentially going back to the old way and with hindsight 2022?

View post:
Opinion | Tech Offers a Silver Lining in Ukraine - The New York Times

NEW YORK, March 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Entreprenista, a media company and membership community dedicated to the advancement of women-led businesses, is proud to celebrate and empower women across the globe in partnership with Hershey Brazil, Hershey India, Hershey Canada, and Hershey Mexico through their #HerSHE campaign in celebration of International Women's Day (March 8th).

The Hershey Company's award-winning #HerSHE campaign, which originated in Brazil in 2020, will transform its iconic Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar wrapper into a celebration of cultural female icons, or "Sheroes", their accomplishments, and the impact these Sheroes have made in their communities. The celebratory packs of Hershey Canada, Hershey Mexico, Hershey Brazil, and Hershey India represent women supporting women's talent, and the bars showcase artwork from local artists and spotlight and celebrate local women who deserve global recognition.

"As a company that embraces diversity and equity, we saw a unique insight into how we can make visible the role of forgotten or somewhat invisible women who make such an important difference in our society," said Santhi Ramesh, CMO for Hershey International. "These campaigns celebrate women while communicating our brand values and the values we share with our consumers. The user generated content is real and authentic, and as a result is able to break through and resonate strongly with consumers."

"Entreprenista is proud to support Hershey's activities in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and India with the shared mission of empowering and celebrating women across the globe," says Stephanie Cartin, CEO of Entreprenista. "We invite all women to participate this month, by nominating inspirational women in your life on social media, to get featured on Entreprenista's website and social media platforms!"

Hershey is also providing Scholarships to the Entreprenista League for women of Brazil, Mexico, and Canada to create lasting community among this year's Sheroes.

Entreprenista is leveraging the award-winning influencer work ofSocialfly, the leading social media marketing and influencer agency to share stories of women in Brazil, Mexico, and India, along withEntreprenista's website, and membership community (The Entreprenista League), and podcast network, including their latest show, Startups in Stilettos launching March 8th, to amplify the voices of women being featured across the world.

Join the movement!

Share a post on social mediato nominate women in your life who inspire you using the hashtags #HerforShe and #HerSHE. Tag 2+ inspirational women who deserve to be celebrated and ask them to nominate women who inspire them too. Tag @entreprenistas to be featured on Entreprenista's site and social media platforms, and tag Hershey Mexico @hersheys_mx or Hershey Brazil @hersheysbr, to get featured on their HerForShe galleries!

If you live in India, please visit: https://www.hershe.co.in/, scroll down to select your template, and create a share card on social media.

If you live in Canada, please use the hashtag #HerForShe and tag @hersheycanada and @entreprenistas to help us make stories more visible!

Hershey is also supporting Entreprenista's Global Virtual event this year on International Women's Day, March 8th at 11 am EST, where Entreprenista will bring together a panel of successful and innovative women to showcase their talents, and to discuss gender equality and gender balance as an economic issue. To join the virtual event, and join the movement #HerforShe, please visit:partners.entreprenista.com/hershey

About EntreprenistaEntreprenista empowers and inspires the current and aspiring generation of women leaders and entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams and celebrate their success. The community is made up of founders and decision makers, and aspiring Entreprenistas who learn the secrets to running a business from women who've done it. Entreprenista's Podcast network, which includes shows like The Entreprenista Podcast and Startups in Stilettos Podcast, host successful female leaders each week, and gets into the nitty gritty of what it's like really to run a business. Entreprenista's membership community,The Entreprenista League, provides direct access to Socialfly and Entreprenista founders Stephanie Cartin, Courtney Spritzer and their inner circle of successful founders and entrepreneurs, along with virtual networking events, and discounts to the business tools and solutions that have helped them scale their businesses. For more information, visitwww.entreprenista.com.

SOURCE Entreprenista

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Entreprenista Joins Forces with The Hershey Company to Amplify the Voices of Women Across the Globe and Create Community #HerSHE #HerforShe - PR...

With the increasingly changing business landscape, more and more consumers are heading to social media to find brands they can know, like and trust to buy from. With this shift comes the need for organisations to increase efforts put into effective social media strategies. This is where the help of an experienced social media manager can make or break an organisations brand strategy.

Having a Social Media Manager is integral to any online marketing strategy. They understand the way people think, act, and behave, and therefore are able to effectively position brands towards their ideal consumers on social media. Below we outline 20 of the best Australian Social Media managers to work with in 2022.

As a passionate Instagram and social media manager, Rita Agoulian founded LickYourPhone Media, a powerful social media marketing agency. The team of creative experts behind the agency live and breathe social media. Curiously enough, they started as a passion project for recommending restaurants and it grew into one of the leading marketing agencies in Australia.

They have worked with the likes of McDonalds, E! News Online, CocaCola, TimTam, Krispy Kreme, KitKat, Ben & Jerrys, Subway, Hungry Jacks, Oporto, and Insider; this is just the beginning for Rita and her team. She has worked alongside the best in the industry and has built relationships with the teams at Insider, LadBible, and UniLad.

As such, Rita has a wealth of knowledge and experience. She knows the ins and outs of social media and her passion fuels her creativity and hunger for success. LickYourPhone Media can cover all your social media marketing needs and they successfully connect brands with a combined audience of 2.1+ million people.

Brands who want to be talked about on the online space turn to Rita and her team because they have the trust of millions of people. Additionally, their content is seen by billions because they have a 100% strike rate to viral. Everything they put forward makes it to the mainstream and reaches the right people to help brands grow.

Without a well-executed social media plan, its challenging for businesses of any kind to succeed in the digital space.

Katrina, Natalie, and their incredible team offer clients a diverse range of skills and expertise to help them thrive. Both co-founders have owned and run their own businesses, so they understand their clients needs from first-hand experience.

Co-founded by expert social media managers Katrina Thomson & Natalie Lane, Your Hive has a proven track record of social media marketing and advertising. They know exactly how to elevate their clients socials to the next level by leveraging their skills and expertise. They harness the power of social media to build and maintain brands identity, exposure, and engagement.

They know how vital it is for businesses to implement streamlined, user-friendly systems to maximise productivity. Katrina and Natalie combine in-depth system knowledge with business acumen to offer extremely valuable services. Their team consists of specialists in many areas, from social media to CRM implementations, and everything in between.

At Your Hive, they tailor their solutions to each client and they are selective about who they choose to work with. Its important for them to be a good fit for their clients and vice versa. Otherwise, it would be impossible to build a working relationship. They meet face to face with clients, they value open communication, and they approach social media uniquely, resulting in amazing outcomes.

With a less is more approach, Maria Esquivel is an expert social media manager and the CEO of Ree Creative. Her boutique design and social media agency is based in Sydney and they help clients develop a strong brand identity and online presence. Maria is focused on reflecting her clients business values and unique vision to create an unmatched aesthetic.

Ree Creatives design process is one-of-a-kind and the team of experienced professionals provides one-on-one attention throughout the process. They are passionate about creating beautiful designs that stand out from the crowd and allow clients businesses to thrive.

As a social media manager, Maria approaches design and socials with fresh modernity and minimalism. Ree Creative specialises in producing not only outstanding brands, but also followable, clickable, and engaging content. This is how they help clients convert and make a space for themselves in the online world.

With incredible attention to detail and an expert ability to think outside the box, Maria and her team provide great value and unmatched services, who are known for their ability to adapt and provide high-quality work. Additionally, they keep an open line of communication with clients, value feedback, and strive to fulfill all clients needs.

With a great ability to find a brand unique mark online, Natalie Paraskevopoulos is the passionate social media manager behind Digitale. This is a social media and creative agency focused on storytelling that connects. Natalie has been studying social media trends since the days of Myspace and she leverages her rich experience to help brands send their powerful message.

Through the years, Natalie has learned what makes people tick and click, and she uses that knowledge to craft social media strategies that truly work. It was her background in real estate, where she harnessed her skills to implement effective content marketing and social media strategies that saw her recognised as Adelaides most influential agent on social media, two years running.

She has directed some of the largest influencer marketing campaigns nationally and has worked with some of the biggest influencers in the world. Natalie has worked in the influencer space long before it became a desirable career choice, so she decided to take her experience and create Digitale. Her mission with this agency is to help business owners have online success in what seems like an overcrowded space.

Natalie helps brands make a space for themselves in an ever-changing industry. Shes not intimidated by the challenges; shes thrilled and inspired by them. At Digitale, they work closely with clients to push the boundaries and help them stand out from the competition. They provide full-circle strategies and make sure they work effectively by keeping an eye on data.

Business owner and creative director Elke Critchley is known for doing things differently. Her full service agency, Social & Staple, ditches the cookie-cutter approach to marketing and gives clients a bespoke experience with amazing results. Based on the Gold Coast, Elke and her all-female team of experts have built an impressive portfolio of clients, providing tailored services that turn pain points into paid points.

Working with both local and international brands, Social and Staple serves clients with a shared purpose of telling authentic stories and fostering growth in innovative and profitable ways.

Founded as a social media agency, Social and Staple soon flourished into a full-service digital marketing agency that works with companies who are invested in their brand growth and development for the long-term.

The key point of difference for Elke and her team is their ability to avoid a common agency pitfall; selling the product or service instead of the brands identity. Forging a new way of doing business, Social and Staple takes your brands voice and amplifies it, with a marketing strategy that is both refreshing and centred around telling your story.

Expert social media manager Joel Thomas is the founder and director of Joel Thomas Creative. This digital marketing agency is based in Newcastle, Australia, and it specialises in creating strong brand awareness and conversion campaigns using Facebook Ads. Additionally, Joel has made sure to provide a wide array of services. Including website creation, graphic design, logo design, landing page building, event videography, and many types of photography.

Joel is proud of working with local businesses particularly in the hospitality, fashion and event industries. He has worked with clients such as Nagisa Japanese Restaurant, awarded the Best Japanese Restaurant in Australia in 2018, fast-food giant Bao Brothers, Privvy Fashion, and Jean Bas, among many others. Joel Thomas Creative has also worked for several hotels in the IRIS Capital Group.

Joel Thomas Creative is heavily involved in setting up major events, including the annual Newcastle Beer Fest, Breathless expeditions and workshops by Wim Hof Method Instructor Johannes Egberts. They also focus on the mental health space, working closely with #talk2mebro and alongside Lifeline Australia to raise awareness around mental health and suicide prevention through advertising and fundraising events.

The team behind Joels digital marketing agency is passionate about helping clients make a space for themselves on the Facebook market. As a social media marketer, Joel wants his clients to succeed and he is committed to doing everything in his power to provide desired outcomes. To do this, he adopts a hands-on, results-oriented approach and provides clients with tailored strategies and tactics for their brands.

Specialising in growing exposure and driving engagement, Steph Downman is an expert social media manager and the owner of SD Marketing. She created this company to help clients reach their full potential so their businesses can expand and make their dreams come true. Steph works with businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to well-established brands, and she approaches each client individually.

Steph understood there was a need for her services both locally in Tin Can Bay and globally, which allow clients to have a successful presence on the Internet. Additionally, they are accessible and varied enough to supper businesses no matter their size.

Social media and online marketing are vital to any kind of business nowadays, so SD Marketing exists to help clients elevate their marketing efforts. Businesses without an online presence are running behind and they must catch up if they hope to survive in such a fast-paced market.

The Internet is no longer a thing of the future, it is our present. Steph wishes to give clients the knowledge and understanding to grow with the times and stay ahead of the curb. SD Marketing specialises in social media management, but it also offers custom digital and print graphic design, and content creation services. All solutions are tailored to clients needs to bring a perfect brand vision to life.

Specialising in supporting small businesses, Stephanie de Gruchy is a passionate social media manager and the founder of Loubel Designs. Back in 2018, she decided to put her love for design and expertise to good use. She is an experienced creative who enjoys working with small businesses in the beauty, fitness, lifestyle, and events industries, among others.

Stephanie handles everything from brief to conception! She works hard to create unique brand designs and visual identities. She understands how important it is to tell a businesss story and she does this in compelling, engaging ways. As a social media manager and expert, she can tailor stunning social feeds that convert.

By combining her design knowledge and skills with her social media expertise, Stephanie has a unique edge over her competition. Creating purposeful and authentic brands is one of the most effective ways to stand out on the market. Making a good impression and engaging the audience is key, and she achieves this beautifully.

Through Loubel Designs, Stephanie provides unmatched branding/graphic design services and social media management services. Essentially, she offers the best of both worlds and can fulfill clients needs effectively. Additionally, she has recently launched a Product Photography service, providing clients with original content for their social media efforts.

Expert social media manager and founder of All Things Social, Emma Sorensen,

is passionate about creating brands that were meant to be seen by the world and her team are not afraid of breaking digital norms to deliver on trend, scroll stopping content.

All Things Social works with clients and focuses on providing a true depiction of the clients vision but also something that resonates with their brand identity. Their services include social media management, branding and design, website design and photography.

In todays fast-paced world, there is an abundance of resources available for anyone to create, design and call themselves an agency. The real talent behind All Things Social lies within the team itself, who have the ability to genuinely understand clients needs and act as the visual catalyst to bring creative design to life. This way, brands can connect with audiences more authentically and stay ahead of the competition.

To All Things Social, a true experience means providing value to their clients with quality work not quantity. High content turnover is not of interest to Emma and her team, unlike many agencies out there. Pushing a deadline just to ensure a clients branding is perfect, or taking the time to explain what website options would best suit a potential client and why, are the types of initiatives that separate your average agency with All Things Social.

Some agencies just want to make money, some agencies want to land the biggest clients in town, All Things Social wants to genuinely help you create, build and grow brands to their full potential because they are passionate about what they do and want to see their clients succeed.

As an expert social media manager, Simone Douglas founded Social Media AOK, an agency that approaches each business individually. They sit down with clients to truly get to know them and build a solid long-term partnership. Simone believes in supporting her clients to help them achieve their sales and brand goals. She leverages years of social media expertise and a human-centered approach to storytelling to help clients thrive.

Simone became a best-selling author at the height of the pandemic with her books Seriously Social Turning Your Online Game Into Real-World Gain and The Confident Networker. She has a knack for simplifying the complexities of social media and makes them not only understandable but also interesting. She is very knowledgeable in the field and shes confident in her skills.

She doesnt only run her agency, she also serves as a branch council member for the Australian Hotels Association SA, co-founded the Hospo Owners Collective, and she serves on the marketing advisory group for BNI Australia. Collectively, her businesses have garnered more awards than can be mentioned in this short bio. Her passion for supporting businesses knows no bounds and her relationship-based approach allows her to stand out.

Simone is focused on strategic networks and Social Media AOK is one of the few agencies that ditches marketing speak and gets down to business. They are experts at providing clients with solid organic engagement and getting the best out of every platform they use, making their services highly valuable.

With a fresh and innovative approach, Nathan Tito is quickly becoming one of the leading social media managers in Australia. He is the founder and director of This Is By Tito, a Mens Premium Underwear & Activewear brand, while also working full-time as SoL Cups Social Media Manager, overseeing partnerships and marketing. Nathans social media experience started 12 years ago when he was working in events and photography.

He has always had a great eye for style and his unique choices soon became the focus of his social media following. Nathan became known for his distinctive look and creative combinations. Soon enough, thousands of people turned to his personal account for daily inspiration and brands became interested in working with him.

As a social media manager, Nathan knows exactly how to engage followers by telling a story with pictures. His work is truly scroll-worthy and people cant get enough of it. His approach to social media and fashion is fresh, youthful, and bold, which allows him to create meaningful engagement. This is what he offers his clients and he always delivers.

Social media management is a passion of his and he is also a successful entrepreneur. His brand This Is By Tito offers premium underwear and activewear for men thats designed for comfort and breathability. His minimalistic collection is made for the everyday man and it provides the most comfortable support so they can lead with confidence.

With a passion for small businesses, Emma Winzar is an expert social media manager that brings them valuable services through her brand Socially Create. Over the last decade, Emma has worked in marketing and communications roles in the corporate world. However, she found that her true calling was in supporting small businesses and the people behind them.

As such, she decided to take all her expertise and knowledge to help small businesses thrive in the online space. Emma gets to know these brands to the core and understands their story so she can represent and share it with the world in the most creative, engaging, and authentic way.

Not only is Emma an amazing social media manager, but she is also a passionate photographer. She knows exactly how to capture the essence of a business through her lens and use that to boost their online presence. She founded Socially Create to be a one-stop-shop for small businesses that need a photographer, videographer, reel creator, social media, and digital marketing specialist.

Engaging an agency or outsourcing services can be expensive, especially when youre just getting your business off the ground. Emma is proud to offer cost-effective and valuable services because she understands small businesses are essential to our economy. Not only that, they also have incredible stories that need to be heard and worthwhile products/services.

Passionate and driven content producer Rachael Brook is the proud owner of Studio Alyce, a boutique creative agency with a wide range of services. From content creation to curation, social media management, production, and influencer campaign management, theres nothing they cant do for their clients. At Studio Alyce, they are DTC (Down to Create) and they are experts at connecting brands with the finest creators.

Rachael is not only passionate about social media, shes also passionate about mental health awareness. Additionally, she spends her free time helping rescue dogs and shes a former makeup artist and beauty content creator. As such, Studio Alyce focuses its services on the beauty industry.

Though the agency was founded in 2021 and theyre new to the market, theyre not new to the industry. Rachael leverages 16 years of combined experience across content creation and production. So far, 7 of those years have been dedicated to social media, YouTube, and brand platforms. In other words, this boutique agency is the expert match-maker of every brands dreams. Whenever brands need a photographer, videographer, influencer, social media strategist, etc., Studio Alyce can help.

Moreover, they offer a tailored experience because they understand every brand is unique. Rachael and her team work closely with clients to create a bespoke content plan to bring their vision to life. They work with brands of all sizes, whether theyre just getting started or are already well-established and love to support local talent. Studio Alyce exists to elevate brands content and digital presence to get the visibility and success they deserve.

Expert social media manager Chelsea Kunst is the proud Director of Public Relations and Social Media at Newish Communications. This is Australias first and only student-run communications agency. They employ an extremely talented team of students that helps clients create a stronger brand image, effective marketing plans, and implementation.

Newish Communications specialises in digital marketing, research-driven branding strategies, data-driven social media strategies, and more. Chelsea uses her years of experience and wealth of knowledge to guide this team of young talent and make sure clients always receive the best possible outcomes.

Founded by Dr. Nicolas Pontes, Newish Communications is in the business of creating industry leaders by giving students first-hand experience working with real clients. This not-for-profit is investing in the future and making history in the industry and the country.

University of Queensland students are provided with a unique opportunity to both hone and expand their skills while providing valuable services. By giving young talent a chance, clients engage in a mutually beneficial relationship that allows their businesses to gain visibility and grow in the online space. The team behind Newish Communications forms close and nurturing relationships with clients as they grow together and advance in the industry.

As a passionate social media manager, Samantha Gould has channelled all her experience and expertise into Gould Social Media. This is an agency that specialises in digital and traditional marketing campaigns to help clients stand out. It offers clients a one-stop shop for their digital representation needs and a wide variety of expert services.

Including social media development and management, blogger and advertising campaigns, and website set-up and management in the digital sphere. While in the traditional sphere, they focus on individualised traditional print, TV, and radio advertising campaigns, and communications, PR, and marketing strategies.

Samantha believes in the power of planning multiple marketing strategies and she swears by this approach. Through Gould Social Media, she offers tailored packages based on the needs of each client and they offer support 24/7. Additionally, shes passionate about sharing her knowledge so she also offers training. This way, clients can learn to manage websites and social media on their own.

They specialise in Marketing Communications Strategy Planning and they craft 1 to 3-year marketing plans complete with timelines and budgets. Samantha continues to leverage traditional marketing practices instead of focusing solely on digital, which allows her agency to stand out and provide the highest possible value.

Communication specialist, graphic designer, and social media manager Mandy Braddick is the Founder and Creative Director behind Wojamin Creative. She is a Wandandian tribe and Gumea language group woman with 11 years of experience working on design, communication, digital, and social media projects. That means she has gathered a wide variety of skills that allow her to provide extremely valuable services to her clients.

Mandy has a Bachelor of Graphic Design and a post-graduate certificate in Strategic Communications. Additionally, she specialises in Indigenous Design Communication and shes passionate about creating bespoke promotional solutions for all kinds of brands. Mandy believes in cultural inclusion and puts respect for it at the outset of every project.

Wojamin Creative combines the Western practice of communications with the Indigenous contemporary practice of design communications. This is what sets them apart and allows them to deliver unique solutions, products, and campaigns. Mandy is dedicated to the appropriate use of imagery, patterns, language, and more in each of her projects.

As an Indigenous communication specialist, she understands the culturally appropriate ways of communicating and ensures the delivery of clear messages over digital and social media. Mandy understands that communities gravitate to their own design and language, so its important to make sure communication reflects the people clients want to reach. This gives way to more authentic and respectful connections.

Specialising in telling real and raw stories, Grace Hamilton has leveraged her life experience and skills to provide outstanding services as a social media manager. In 2021, she began battling an eating disorder which stemmed from layers of body dysmorphia growing up. Though her efforts continue to this day, it has allowed her to find the strength to act on her passion.

Motivated to share her story and use her social media skills, she decided to launch her own website with endeavours to help others going through similar ordeals. As a journalism student in her final year, Grace understands the importance of connecting with followers through words, and most importantly, the truth. Her social media management methods focus heavily on this, acting as the driving force for active engagement.

Grace has poured herself into her website brand and has received outstanding support and success. From this, she has learned that authentic and honest content can lead to positive change. Through her raw and relatable content, she has challenged the mental health and eating disorder stigma, a change shes very proud of.

While continuing to grow her brand and community, Grace uses her expertise to help others tell their stories and make an impact in their own space. Her main objective while managing her website and social media platforms is to convey the message that no one issue is greater than another. She has combined her love for writing with her creative flair for social media to help fellow social media content creators deal with topical concerns and grow their personal brands. Her services are not only passionate, they are unique and valuable to businesses and individuals who are ready to truly connect with their audience.

Pallavi Dhurandhar is the founder of Pallavi Social, a Melbourne based Social Media Marketing Agency focused on helping new and established business owners elevate their social presence. From content creation (including reels and short videos), to design, to helping businesses perfect their marketing, Pallavi and her team have quickly become known for on time delivery, quality of work and rave reviews . I love the challenge of creating a brand that speaks directly to who you are as a business, what you offer and who your customers are, says Pallavi.

Starting right from branding, design, creating strategies, and running campaigns to establishing a warm Social media presence for your brand, Pallavi social have all your social media marketing needs covered. Implementing an analytical and systematic approach towards marketing, the experienced team have worked with clients from multiple countries and industries.

Extremely versatile and experts in their field, Pallavi Social are the complete guide to build and grow your brand.

As a social media manager, Miranda Nunn-Parker offers a wealth of insight. Not only as a professional but also as a consumer of social media. She is obsessed with it and she understands that social media is not just technology, its also a passion and a fascinating lifestyle. Miranda has been creating her own social media content since she was a teenager and she has worked with amazing brands, such as Deciem, a multibillion-dollar pioneer in the beauty industry.

Through her personal and professional experience with social media, she has perfected the skills that make her such a valuable social media manager. Miranda isnt only able to develop and execute social media and affiliate strategies, shes also an expert in influencer marketing. She knows exactly how to create a highly engaging social media presence and she does it with kindness.

The social media industry can be vicious, but Miranda leads with kindness and humility. Social media is way too fast-paced to believe you have it all figured out because things are constantly changing. Thats why she is constantly learning, relearning, and unlearning everything to stay on top of the game and be innovative.

Miranda is not only creative, she also has an agile, flexible, and resilient mindset, which is essential for a social media manager. Additionally, she has an unmatched work ethic and shes dedicated to diversity because she knows how empowering it is. Representation is very important to her, so she works hard to encourage it through her work and make a difference.

Founded by young entrepreneur of the year finalist, Josh Fritz, Patch Agency is one of the top digital marketing and design agencies in Brisbane. And spearheading the Social Media team at Patch is a passionate social media manager, Lauren Grogan. Lauren has dedicated herself to helping business owners build successful brands that convert. With an incredible team of creative young minds, Patch Agency can transform the way businesses market their products and services in the online space.

Patch Agency offers full-scope Marketing, Digital, and SEO services. Additionally, this agency is home to Brisbanes first eCommerce Hub, which drives inspiration, innovation, and creativity. Its designed to promote collaboration between clients and creatives so they can move faster and disrupt the status quo.

The agency also houses the essentials to creating great visual content- a fully operational photography studio, a Google-inspired Hot Desk Space, and Instagram-worthy office that serves as a perfect event or networking space. The carefully designed space creates a unique agency where clients can feel understood and supported.

Josh, Lauren and the team at Patch help businesses reach their digital marketing goals by listening to their needs and delivering a perfect social media vision. Clients are supported every step of the way and they are provided with daily updates regarding the progress of their project and deliverables. Patch Agency doesnt only value excellence, it also values customer satisfaction and transparency.

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20 Australian Social Media Managers to Work With in 2022 - The Australian Business Journal