Melbourne Social Co celebrates our 7th Birthday
We’re excited to be celebrating our 7th birthday at Melbourne Social Co this month!
Director Shelley Friesen began forging a career in social media over ten years ago – establishing Melbourne Social Co in 2011. While pursuing IT wasn’t a stylish choice for a child of the 80’s, Shelley’s intuition to pursue social media was bang on, and now seven years later the digital marketing world is as thriving as ever.
Being in the industry this long has allowed us to evolve over time and be able to offer more than just standard social media management. We know that there is “no one-size-fits-all” approach when it comes to amplifying a brand’s presence online.
The evolution of Melbourne Social Co is something our team is truly proud of. Moving into our 8th year now, our agency’s focus is on creating innovative and game-changing digital content for our wonderful portfolio of clients.
“The business we founded in 2011 is very different to the agency we operate today, such is the fast-paced and ever evolving digital marketing landscape. That being said, this evolution has been a wonderful journey to go on, from humble beginnings as a social media management team, to our positioning today as brand strategists and premium content creators. It’s such a rewarding industry to be a part of, and a pleasure to work with a creative, dynamic team who are incredibly passionate about what they do.” Shelley Friesen - Director, Melbourne Social Co
Want to know more about our team? Get in touch today.
Tips for starting a creative career
The creative industry is thriving right now, with the rise of digital marketing, Instagram influencers and the world’s obsession with all things social; a creative career is the popular choice right now.
While a creative career doesn’t necessarily require academic studying, there are things you need to learn before delving into the creative world. When embarking on any career, it is important you arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can, and the same goes for starting your creative career. Here are some tips to ensure the success of your big career move!
Find a course that’s right for you!
Just because a creative career doesn’t necessarily require a university degree, doesn’t mean there’s not a lot to learn! Our sister brand The Social Co Academy has amazing online courses on offer. Their amazing courses were recently featured in Fashion Journal as a course to help kick-start your creative career. The courses will help you learn how to master social media marketing from the comfort of your home, teaching you everything you need to know!
Take inspiration from those with established creative careers!
Scroll through instagram and get inspired by the people who are doing it right. It can be hard to find the right balance on social media; so don’t be afraid to look to your fellow creators for inspiration and ideas. Establishing a creative career doesn’t come easily, so be sure to keep up with the latest trends and content appearing in your career space!
Be flexible!
Social media is ever changing, and you should be to! Learning to be flexible in any career will help you stay at the top of your game. Adapting and changing, as you need, will help keep your content and ideas fresh and ensure you stay relevant in the fast paced creative world.
Want to know more about The Social Co Academy?
Perhaps you'd like to book in a consulting session with our team?
Or, maybe you're looking for the perfect internship to get your foot in the door at a creative agency.
Is bigger better when it comes to a marketing agency?
Do you believe boutique agencies create more authentic relationships with clients? If so, why?
Absolutely! One of the major perks of business’s working with a boutique agency is that you get a much more personalised experience with our Account Managers as we have a manageable client base so we can really dedicate our time and energy to each and every one of our clients.
At Melbourne Social Co, we pride ourselves on the close relationships we have with our clients – we want them to feel like we are just an extension of their team! This kind of relationship helps us to do our best work, as we’re always communicating with our clients we get to know their business inside out so we can produce content that hits their targets and that we know they’ll love!
Is bigger better when it comes to a marketing agency?
Not at all. In fact, I think it’s very much the opposite.
Working with a boutique agency has many benefits from offering a more personalised service that can be tailored to individual clients and their needs (no more one size fits all packages!), to being more cost effective. We also have an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, which allows senior members of our team to oversee all accounts big and small and lend their input and expertise.
What’s your opinion on boutique agency, versus, one in house employee?
Working with a boutique agency is great way to get the skills of 5 or so people, for the price that’s usually equal or less than a full-time junior employee’s annual salary. When we work on our client’s accounts, we combine the skills of our content creators, copywriters, community managers, Facebook ad experts and account managers so we always have an expert working on the different elements of our client’s campaigns. It’s rare to find an employee who is an expert in all of those areas!
In recent times, larger, more traditional marketing agencies have been seen to use identical and standard marketing approaches. Do you believe that boutique agencies offer a more innovative and unique approach?
Without the confines of a larger agency, a boutique agency can remove the red tape, so we can get creative, try new and interesting ideas without having to get sign-off from various senior staff or board members. This means we can produce out-of-the-box content for our clients that is different to all the other digital marketing content and strategies on the market. This is the best way to get your business to stand out from the rest and get some serious results!
What flexibility does a boutique marketing agency offer?
A whole lot! From our packages (we tailor them to suit you!), to deadlines, to your entire digital marketing strategy. We get that your business is different from any other, and we work with you to offer you a digital marketing service that best works for you.
Do you believe that boutique agencies offer a more streamlined and responsive approach?
Certainly. As we are juggling a lesser client base and have account managers dedicated to managing only a handful of clients at a time, we are always flexible and super responsive to our clients wants and needs.
What is your favourite part of working at a boutique marketing agency?
Our clients are so varied! We have the opportunity to work with clients big, medium and small so each client and each campaign is totally different. Keeps things interesting!
Want to pencil in some time with Rebekah and the rest of our team to chat about your creative requirements? Contact us today to schedule in a session with our team.
The Benefits Of A Boutique Agency
Thinking of outsourcing your brand's marketing requirements? Tossing up between working with a large or boutique agency? We're sharing a few tips on why boutique is the way to go!
When it comes to sourcing an agency to best represent your brand, its no secret there is a bit of an oversaturation in the world of marketing and social media.
More than often, it’s tempting to choose a large, well-known company to meet your marketing needs - but what about the alternatives? There HAS to be another option for value, satisfaction and success.
Here lies the secret weapon that is the Boutique Creative Marketing Agency.
With an intimate team of professionals directly at hand, the benefits of choosing a boutique agency are endless.
Direct access to the owner, specialist team members and closer client relationships
Too often the hierarchy at big agencies resembles more of a monarchy than an efficient, innovative space for creativity and client relations to flourish.
In larger businesses, strict structures and reporting protocol limit the contact and input a client can have when it comes to the services provided to them.
At a boutique agency, a smaller team of handpicked professionals can offer a more personal service and creative space for successful client relationships. Your creative team are able to position themselves as an extension of your business, leading to a more authentic content creation process.
Owners and senior members of staff have the ability to directly oversee projects within a smaller team, allowing a client’s input and best interests to be at the forefront of their minds; ultimately producing higher quality work that is the best representation of your business’ vision.
Lower Cost
Instead of the cost of overheads including extra support staff, lavish workspaces and expense accounts that you would find integrated into proposed quotes by larger agencies, outsourcing a boutique agency to market your business can be a much more cost effective option.
With a boutique agency, clients pay only for the team that actually works on a job, meaning no unjustified or hidden costs. Generally a Melbourne Social Co monthly retainer is equivalent to, or less than, the cost of a full time junior salary - a fee that gives you direct access to the experience of an entire creative team.
Faster turn around
Another major benefit when it comes to choosing a boutique agency over a larger competitor is the quick turn around time for projects and content.
Boutique agencies carefully hand-pick a manageable amount of clients they believe they can deliver genuine results to, so your project wont be put on hold or lost in the crowd. This tailored approach smaller agencies employ ensures your campaign will be given the attention and dedicate it deserves, leading to better results!
These are but a few benefits we can recommend when it comes to going ahead with a smaller, boutique marketing agency. For any queries, or additional information on how we at Melbourne Social Co can provide the very best service for your business or project, contact us today - [email protected]
Finding The Best Stock Images for Content Creation
If you’re running a social media page set up for success, we understand that you want everything you post to look amazing. We also understand the struggle achieving this if you don’t have access to a photographer or stylist, or content readily available. Here is a list of our favourite royalty-free stock image sites, as well as a summary of the Copyright Act for Australian content creators, to help you create stunning posts for your business or personal pages.
Created by yours truly, we have a collection of styled and edited photos available for purchase, which you can adapt to your brand’s needs. Take a browse through everything available here. These photos are particularly tailored for lifestyle, business, blogging, decor and design.
Pexels have a variety of photos and videos, which don’t require any attribution. They have a wide range of images, with some premium options available for purchase. There is no login required, so download is convenient and easy!
Similar to Pexels, Unsplash has a variety of artistic photos available for free download, however this site does not include stock video. The creators also don’t need to be credited, and best of all, everything on the website is free.
Unlike some of the free sites, Stocksy includes several less traditional image options, such as prints and animations, photos of families, workplace and site photos, photo collections and a range of videos. These pieces require an account and payment, and the site includes the ability to search with JPG files.
Another paid site, SC Stockshot provides stylised images which have been used by Vogue Bridal and a wide variety of wedding sites. You can also access 20 images for free by signing up to the newsletter, and the site is unique in categorising various images by colour palettes, along with traditional category groupings.
Copyright law
Understanding Australia’s copyright law can be broad and complicated, so here’s a brief summary of how it works for content creators.
Copyright law applies automatically to every piece of work, regardless of where it was made, provided it is being used in Australia. This applies to unpublished content, regardless of whether it has a copyright notice included, including work you find on the internet.
To use someone else’s work, you need to gain permission, and may need to pay for a licence. You are also legally required to credit the work’s creators, unless they have explicitly waived this right. If the work is in the public domain, or author has explicitly denied the rights of use through Creative Commons Licensing, you may use their work without permission, however it is still polite to credit them. Other exceptions for using material without permission are listed under ‘fair dealing’ in the Copyright Act, which primarily applies to educational, legal and journalist organisations.
For content creators, you may use a portion of someone else’s work without permission, provided it is not an important, integral or distinctive part of their work, and the guideline for this is 10% of the piece. The wording on this clause is very broad, so we recommend seeking permission and licenses for whatever you use to avoid infringement.
If you’d like to know more about content creation and how we can help, contact us at [email protected]
Content Marketing For Business
Here at Melbourne Social Co, we are big believers in the importance of content marketing for businesses. Why? It helps to increase SEO, it builds brand awareness and provides extra value to your consumer.
Are you ready to start using content marketing for your business? We've listed the key reasons why you should…
It increases SEO:
If you want to increase your website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) then high-quality and search-friendly content is a must. This content should be unique and original and should include relevant keywords which will boost your ranking on Google, so you can continue to attract more visitors.
It provides value to your audience:
As consumers become more and more savvy, it’s important that you give your brand a point of difference, and offer something via your digital strategy that will add value to your consumers' daily life, encouraging them to keep coming back for more. This is where content marketing comes into play. Think of engaging blogs, eye-catching imagery and emails filled with tips and tricks as ways to entice your consumer to stay engaged with your business.
It helps to build brand awareness:
Content marketing is all about creating and distributing relevant content to attract and increase your consumer engagement. This increase in consumer engagement means more people are listening and connecting with your business and in turn are more likely to buy your product or your service. Types of content marketing you could use to increase your brand awareness include blogs and email marketing, which help to capture the attention of your consumer, increase brand awareness, provide value, generate sales and increase SEO! Sounds perfect right?!
Are you ready to take the next step and build your business’s content marketing? From website content, to blogs, engaging imagery, email marketing and creative copy for your social media channels, Melbourne Social Co does it all.
Get in touch with us to find out how we can help your business today.
Want to learn how to get that great content of yours 'out there'?
Take our Social Co Academy short online course.