Social media is key, but small businesses missing the mark

Wednesday 10 August 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Social media is key, but small kiwi businesses are missing the mark: two young Wellingtonians set out to change it

Young Wellington business owners Heather Phillips and Charlie Coppinger brought their new business idea to life today. They’ve launched a social media school for business aptly named ‘The Social Media Academy’. Their aim is to drastically improve how businesses and non-profits in New Zealand use social media through education in small face-to-face group lessons.

According to a New Zealand study of small businesses 46% said they would increase their use of Facebook as a marketing tool if staff had more knowledge. Co-founder Phillips says this knowledge gap for people who didn’t grow up with social media is hurting their business.

“Most small businesses in New Zealand who are attempting to use social media aren’t using the platforms to their full extent, and it’s likely because they don’t how. But the lack of quality is doing more harm than good for their business.”

Phillips believes that by up-skilling small/medium business owners and employees in a face-to-face environment that they’ll be able to help them improve their online brand and avoid wasting time and money.

“Social media can become a huge time and money waster for businesses who aren’t using it properly, but we’re here to fix that, starting in Wellington and then moving around the country.” says Phillips.

Co-founder Coppinger says it’s not just businesses, it’s also charities and non-profit organisations missing the mark, which he says is a shame considering they rely on getting their message out to the public to get donations and support for their work. He also says they'll be reserving a few spots in each class for a volunteer or employee of a charity to take the course for free.

“It’s a real pity when you see a group doing amazing things in our community but not quite getting it right on social media, and in some cases they’re wasting their marketing budget through trial and error, so we decided to open up several spaces in each course to charity groups free of charge.”

Their first course is aimed at businesses new to social media trying to navigate their way around the options and features available to businesses.

“Instagram just launched their new business tools, Facebook recently changed how business pages look, and more and more business are using Snapchat to engage with their customers. It’s an absolute minefield if it’s new to you so we’re starting at the ground level and will add advanced platform specific courses as we go forward,” Coppinger says.

The Social Media Academy is holding a launch party in Wellington on Thursday 18 August to officially announce the new business.

ENDS

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