A Perfect Place And Perfect Marketing

Smart coordination and outsourcing ensures the marketing success of a new initiative

Interview by Shannon Woolacott

Priority Projects Officer (Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils Inc): Peta Jamieson
Years Active: 2014 to present
Facebook Page likes: 1,546 likes and counting
Website: www.theperfectplace.com.au

 

The “Wide Bay Burnett – The Perfect Place” initiative was formed when an organisation of local councils funded a campaign to promote and showcase the diverse assets and attributes the region offers with a clear aim to attract businesses/jobs and families to the region.

Social Media Success Magazine recently caught up with Peta Jamieson, the Priority Projects Officer for the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils Inc.

SMSM: Can you start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

Peta Jamieson: I work for the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils (WBBROC) and in particular, I work for their Regional Economic Development Advisory Committee. We’ve been doing a lot of initiatives to improve the economic outlook for the region, particularly in the context of trying to change the demographic for the region to a younger, skilled population. And as part of that attraction and retention push, we’ve been progressing with a range of initiatives, hence, why we went down the path of engaging with a Social Media agency.

SMSM: Why did you want to try Social Media?

Peta Jamieson: We had recognised that the demographic that we wanted to be able to target, 25 to 45 year olds, mainly females, from South East Queensland, are heavily into Social Media and that we needed to look at creating a website and Facebook page.

SMSM: So did you have any expectations for Social Media?

Peta Jamieson: We particularly wanted to be able to see Facebook likes increasing as a KPI. We had an expectation that the content would be such that it would be therefore appealing to the right target market, and that has proven to be positive with over 1,400 likes, and majority of those likes being within that target market, so that’s great.

SMSM: What do you think are the benefits of outsourcing to a company for your Social Media?

Peta Jamieson: The reality is while everyone likes to think they’re an expert in Social Media or IT, and because of the extra workload to manage the Facebook page or in the other case, it’s better to have experts being contracted in to give good, clear advice, and guidance on this marketing approach, because it is really important as part of our attraction strategy.

SMSM: How do you think that this compares to managing Social Media in-house?

Peta Jamieson: My view has always been: “We shouldn’t do that in-house unless we have a dedicated resource to manage the website, the Facebook, and any other social mediums that we want to develop and create,” so it’s really much smarter to outsource.

SMSM: Have you come across anything that hasn’t worked well so far on the page?

Peta Jamieson: We still got instances where people [in the organisation] go and put up a post, which has not at all linked to the tagline. That’s where it’s a great benefit that you have an outsourced resource to be managing the site on a regular basis, because one time, they saw a post and said to me via email, “It’s not appropriate.” So they took it down. And then politely, they advised [the person], which was all fine of the fact that it wasn’t appropriate, that it was taken down. And that’s a good process because then the individual gets, in a nice way, targeted to be reminded of what’s right and what’s wrong.

SMSM: What do you find works best on your page?

Peta Jamieson: The fact that the Social Media agency we outsourced to are doing posts. The fact that now we’ve got a presence for a region that’s been severely under-recognised, and we know now not only through the likes and sort of the target market we are reaching, we know more broadly that that Facebook page isn’t the be all and end all. But we’re also getting more attention from government, and so they’re starting to recognise the leadership role in that regard, so it’s worked. The Page has helped build the profile for the region in a really, really short period of time, and that’s been really, really important.

SMSM: Have you encountered any negativity on the page at all? How do you manage that?

Peta Jamieson: There’ve been a couple of posts but they weren’t that related to the page anyway.

Our Social Media manager advises when there are posts that are not appropriate, I then advise the CEO and have a chat with them and let them know. And so that’s my job, is to coordinate and have that direct relationship and let them know.

SMSM: When you get that negative feedback does it taint the experience having the page?

Peta Jamieson: No. No. There has been only one real negative comment. That’s all we’ve really had.

SMSM: As the council’s a fairly formal institution in society, how do you think Social Media has helped to reach members of the community, particularly your target audience?

Peta Jamieson: I think the reality is, yes, councils are formal entities, they do have a responsibility to be marketing their area, but traditionally, the general community doesn’t really like the council spending money in that regard. It’s good that the councils are embracing Social Media, because it provides them a mechanism to market their area and not receive a lot of negativity about doing so.

SMSM: Do you think that they’re reaching a different audience to traditional methods of marketing?

Peta Jamieson: Yes. Definitely. Particularly in the sense of the young generation, whether they are on holidays or actually looking at a tree change or a sea change, they’ve got access to information that they would’ve had to source through six different mechanisms previously, six different council websites just to source information. Now, they’ve got it at their fingertips in a one-stop shop.

SMSM: So do you think that Social Media has played an important role in the project?

Peta Jamieson: Yes. Definitely. I’ve always strongly held that view and continue to do so.

For more information, visit The Perfect Place Facebook Page