Australians now have access to on-the-go offices with the first of their kind ‘TaskPod’ being rolled out at busy shopping centres, airports and transport hubs across the country.

“Up until now flexible working has involved having meetings and video calls hunched over café tables or even from your car. We want to make it better for people to manage working from anywhere,” says TaskPod co-founder Adam Morgan.

Ten TaskPods have already been installed across the country including at Adelaide Airport, Perth Airport and at Sydney’s World Square and Pitt Street Mall with another 25 to be rolled out in the next 4 months, including at Westfield shopping centres and at train stations.

The modular orange and white office pods are soundproof and contain a desk and chair, access to secure WiFi, USB charging port and power points. Some have AV screens and the larger models contain a table and seating for up to 4 people.

“We’ve designed TaskPods to be like stepping stones for hybrid workers so they can jump in and out of work wherever they may be,” says Mr Morgan.

“We’re rolling them out at shopping centres and major transport hubs including airports and train stations. Anywhere where people might be passing through and urgently need to take a call or jump onto a meeting.” 

“Our next rollout phase will include hospitals, corporate foyers and other public spaces,” he adds.

The last Census survey showed more than 2.5 million Australians were working from home and even post-pandemic that trend is continuing with many choosing to continue their hybrid working and market leaders such as Google, Atlassian and Facebook embracing a flexible work model for employees.

The TaskPods are easily located and accessed via an app – users can book them ahead of schedule or straight away. The space costs $15 an hour and can be booked in 15 minute increments. People either pay for them individually or access their subscription through a company account.

Companies already offering a subscription to their employees include Price Waterhouse Coopers, the Royal Automobile Association and Shiels Jewellers.

TaskPod is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Adam Morgan and Tyson Gundersen who also founded Australian modular office solutions company Bureau Booths.

The pair met while working at KPMG in London. 

Mr Gundersen came up with the idea for the TaskPod while running late for a meeting. 

“I was stuck in traffic one day travelling between a daycare drop off and work and was running late for a meeting and thought wouldn’t it be great if I had a quiet space I could access mid-route to make my calls,” says Mr Gundersen.

“We think of it like a micro-office on the go or even a place to meet clients when you’re travelling around.”

“We’ve even got students who log into university lectures in them and others using them as a space to meditate,” he says.

Sites where TaskPod are in the process of being installed  –

NSW

• Westfield Parramatta
• Westfield Pitt Street
• Westfield Bondi Junction
• Westfield Miranda

Victoria

• 206 Bourke Street, Melbourne 
• South Melbourne Central
• The Glen, Glen Waverley

Social media moves fast, and to remain competitive in what will be a defining year to come, brands need a complete view of the emerging trends set to shape the social landscape in 2023. Bridging this gap, Hootsuite is has announced the launch of its seventh annual Social Trends Report, providing a deep dive into the industry behaviours guiding brands’ marketing and social strategies this year including the Top Social Media Marketing Trends for 2023.

At the time that last year’s Social Trends Report was released, pandemic restrictions were starting to ease and markets were booming – a positive turn of events that had many feeling optimistic for the future. However, looking ahead into 2023, a looming recession, rising inflation, declining consumer spending, and workforce reductions across major business sectors have made decision making precarious for businesses of all sizes. Despite this uncertainty, Hootsuite’s report shows that there is good news on the horizon.

Social marketers are experiencing a defining moment in history for the industry. After decades of advocating for social to have a seat at the boardroom table, it’s finally happening – social marketers are getting more agency over their work, and social media marketing has matured as a profession.

“Social media has never played a more central role to businesses. As businesses continue to look for ways to future-proof operations and connect with today’s tech-savvy customers, social media and digital marketing will inevitably play a part in nearly every business strategy,” said Maggie Lower, Chief Marketing Officer, Hootsuite. “In 2023, businesses that take a social-first approach to their brand and customer care strategy will be the ones to reap the benefits. Stronger brand reputation, greater customer interaction, trust and loyalty – now and in the future – depends on it.”

Leveraging surveys from over 10,600 marketers and primary interviews with dozens of social marketing practitioners, leaders, observers and partners, we found compelling insights spanning the social ecosystem – from social marketing and care to social commerce.

Top Social Media Marketing Trends for 2023

● Big brands are investing less in influencer marketing, opening the door for small businesses to engage top creators (at lower price points!)

● Social’s newfound exposure in the C-suite opens it up to new levels of scrutiny – with differing opinions on what ROI looks like among social marketers and senior leaders

● Recycling content becomes a thing of the past; marketers stop chasing new features and start getting more strategic, creating more creative, unique content for fewer platforms

● Social commerce loses traction with platform pull back, but is only a loss to those that follow

suit; marketers with the patience to hold on see new opportunities to gain a competitive edge

● Google, who? Social search optimisation emerges as a make-or-break skill for marketers

● The return to brick-and-mortar shopping makes businesses lose focus on digital customer service – opening the door for chatbot adopters to gain a massive advantage

● Marketers don’t feel equipped for digital customer service, and the implications of unanswered DMs are further reaching than one might think

Social has become intrinsically intertwined with how people live, work, operate, and shop — with more than 4.7 billion people around the globe now using social media. While keeping up with all the evolving trends can be intimidating, Hootsuite’s Social Trends Report offers marketers a guide to the wild world of social — complete with simple, specific recommendations — to help them gain an edge on their social strategy in 2023 and build community and connection with their customers.

“In a year marked by global economic and social upheaval, brands and organisations are looking for tools to help navigate their business through the noise to connect with their customers — and with even more urgency as we all become more digital and connected,” said Tom Keiser, Chief Executive Officer, Hootsuite. “With the launch of our 2023 Trends Report, we’re proud to provide our insights, recommendations and tangible recommendations to help organisations not only successfully navigate the digital wilderness, but also adapt to new buyer trends, find new ways to support their customers, and identify new paths for growth.”

To help our customers put the top social trends into action in real-time, we have paired each trend within the report with newly-created resources that social media marketers can build into their strategy and begin using today. The suite of resources developed to support this report include:

● Social Marketing

○ Creator Brief Template for Small Businesses, helping social marketers to align goals and deliverables with the creators they are engaging, while at the same time including clauses that ensure a mutually beneficial partnership.

○ Social Media Report Template, complete with a success snapshot, data tracking, results and analysis to show social’s ROI to senior leaders.

○ Social Media Audit Template, designed to help social marketers evaluate their current social media efforts and help inform their strategy for the new year.

● Social Commerce

○ Getting Started with Social Commerce Guide, breaking down the three simple steps required to start turning a brands’ social followers into paying customers

○ Social Post SEO Checklist Template, providing a list of tips to check off the list when developing social posts to ensure SEO is optimised

● Social Customer Care

○ Facebook Messenger for Customer Care Guide with everything brands need to know to build stronger relationships with their customers across messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger

○ Essential Direct Messaging Replies Template – a templated list of DM responses to enhance the social customer care experience, eliminating the need for our customers to think about how to respond next

Get the complete analysis, brand examples, and strategies for 2023 in the full report.

With the increase in customer expectations and competition, standing out and differentiating your business, products and services will keep you ahead of the game – and the key to unlocking that potential is found in customer feedback. I have learnt this first-hand.

Customer feedback is a crucial tool for a small business owner that can provide pivotal insights into all aspects of their company. The intel can help shape business models, instigate innovation, services and product developments, cut marketing costs and most importantly, highlight missed opportunities.

At Stepz Fitness, a rapidly growing, 24/7 fitness chain, customer satisfaction is so important to us and our business model, that being customer-focused is one of our core values. We absolutely live and breathe it. Bucking industry trends and giving customers what they want, when they need it has led the business to claim a dominant stake in the Australian fitness landscape – currently ranked among the top 10 gym franchises in Australia – and led to national expansion.

Customer feedback is such a tricky thing in business. The big question here is what, when and how does a business adapt to customer feedback and expectations and when do they stay the course? There are plenty of scenarios for you to leverage customer feedback into profit-building opportunities.

Open channels of communication and customer feedback

What we know is that 67% of customers list having a poor experience as their reason for leaving them and 91% of customers who have had a bad experience leave without even giving any feedback. Have clear feedback mechanisms that give your customers a voice, allow you to find trends and relevance to make changes. Keep transparent communication consistent across multiple channels to allow you to have direct interactions with your customers so they feel valued, appreciated and heard.

Brand reputation

Each time a dissatisfied customer expresses their disappointment, you can immediately react and find a solution to fix an issue – whether the solution can be fixed now or in the future, it all counts. This is a perfect moment to win a client back and even increase their level of loyalty and build your business’s reputation, ultimately working to increase positive word of mouth – the most powerful, authentic marketing tool. Having devoted brand ambassadors is gold your company needs to grow.

Customer retention

On average, Stepz members stay with us for 18+ months versus the industry average of 9 months. Client retention is a significant metric for you to consider as it reduces your need to continuously fill the emptying funnel, and provides long-term financial stability. High customer satisfaction leads to higher rates of customer retention, subsequent purchases, higher profits and increased growth.

Put your customers in the center of your business and treat their feedback as the most valuable source for information in your company. They are the ones who use your products and services, and know best what could be improved to make the experience better. Understand the best way for your company to collect customer feedback and never ignore their voices. It is priceless so never stop listening. You’ll see the results in your bottom line.

Stepz Fitness National Franchisor, Samuel Waller

Australia’s largest business organisation My Business, with over 90,000 members, has launched a new one stop shop for small business owners looking to take the guesswork out of HR and help stop paperwork mistakes.

The new offering, My Business Workplace, helps SMEs manage all stages of employment – from recruitment, managing employees and paying staff, through to termination and redundancies.

“Small business owners are used to being a jack of all trades but it’s difficult to be an expert in something as serious as workplace law,” says My Business General Manager of Product and Sales Phil Parisis.

“A recent survey* of our members found that almost a quarter are spending the equivalent of 2 days a week on paperwork. That’s a lot of time that could be spent either doing what they love or growing their business.”

“More worryingly, 60% admitted they’ve made paperwork mistakes when doing their own workplace paperwork and documentation,” says Mr Parisis.

“Australia is the most heavily regulated country in the world when it comes to workplace law so it’s no wonder business owners are confused,” he adds.

Workplace provides a wide range of advice and documents including:

• Legally compliant documentation such as employment contracts, policies and notices prepared by a leading employment law firm
• Guides and checklists for staff onboarding, termination and redundancy
• Access to the Workplace advice helpline to speak with an HR expert for tailored advice

“The workplace product is designed to remove the price barrier that often stops SME owners from seeking legal advice.”

“We know that employment contracts are the number one workplace topic people search for – specifically rules surrounding resignation, redundancy and flexible working.”

“Unfortunately, the rules and regulations surrounding workplaces are not always black and white, they’re often quite a few shades of grey. My Business Workplace is about making it easier for SME owners to understand their requirements and breaks down the process into easy to follow steps,” says Mr Parisis.

The My Business Workplace software is available to businesses from sole traders hiring for the first time to those with 200+ employees. Subscriptions start from $85 a month.

*Survey Source: ‘Recipe for Success Survey’ conducted by My Business & Pure Profile – August 2022Howard

Half of Aussie consumers will spend more during Black Friday Cyber Monday sales despite concerns over the cost of living, with quality and value set to rule spending decisions, new research from Shopify has revealed.

Ahead of the 2022 Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend — an event that last year saw more than 47 million shoppers buying from brands powered by Shopify in 2021 — Shopify surveyed 4,000 consumers and 500 businesses across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) to learn how cost-of-living spikes will influence spending habits and retailers over the holidays. 

Despite the gloomy economic outlook, retailers are optimistic about consumer spending, with 72% saying they are planning a “big Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM)” to kick start holiday season shopping, with 78% of retailers saying there will be better deals available to customers compared to last year’s BFCM.

“This year, we can clearly see a shift towards more considered spending, as many Aussies prioritise value for money — in terms of quality and cost savings — as inflation and interest rates bite,” said Shaun Broughton, APAC Managing Director at Shopify. “Despite gloomy economic conditions, consumers are setting aside extra money for holiday spending, which presents an opportunity for retailers offering quality products and smart incentives to accelerate growth.”

“With the cost of living continuing to rise, we’ve noticed a shift in the way our customers are shopping,” said Zhoe Low, General Manager at Australian luggage brand, July. “We quickly realised that our customers are planning trips in advance and shopping earlier than usual, most likely to take advantage of peak sales times. To accommodate and react to this trend in pre-holiday prep, we are distributing gifting messaging sooner as well as being much clearer with our shipping timeframes.”

The findings reveal:

As bills bite, consumers drop disposable spending but are saving more to maximise Black Friday shopping

• Over a third (36%) of Australian consumers are cautious about spending in the current economic environment, and more than three quarters (75%) say they have reduced their disposable spending in the past couple of months.
• Despite this, Black Friday Cyber Monday and holiday season sales are a bright spot for consumers, with half (52%) putting more money aside for the holiday season than they have done previously this year, and over a third (40%) intending to spend more this Black Friday / Cyber Monday before the real pinch of price hikes kick in.
• Retailers are also optimistic, with (72%) saying they are planning a “big Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM)” to kick start holiday season shopping, and 78% saying there will be better deals available to customers compared to last year’s BFCM.

Shoppers are looking more carefully for value that lasts, but open to monthly treats to spark joy

• Quality and value rule consumer spending, with two-thirds (69%) of consumers looking to spend money on higher quality products that last to make their money stretch further and 64% more likely to shop during BFCM to get more bang for their buck.
• And, two thirds (68%) of consumers say they’re likely to treat themselves about once a month (68%), and two-thirds (69%) are looking to spend money on smaller purchases that bring them joy amidst the uncertainty.

Considered bargain hunting a foundational shopping behaviour 

• Price rules right now, and as a result, loyalty is up for grabs. Australian shoppers ranked higher than the global average (74%, versus 65% globally) saying that cost savings would convince them to switch to a rival brand’s product.
• And, almost all (84%) are making more considered purchases by comparing prices to see where the best discounts are and more than a quarter (26%) are considering whether they really need something before committing to buy. 
• The good news is that 78% of businesses in the region think better deals will be available to customers compared to last year’s BFCM season. Cost conscious shoppers will be able to take advantage.

About the study Online survey conducted by Sapio Research, on behalf of Shopify, among 24,009 consumers and 9,012 businesses (under 1,000 employees) across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, US and Canada. The survey took place between September and October 2022

Melanie Hoptman, COO of APAC at LiveRamp – which helps power advertising for the likes of Woolies, Microsoft and JD.com – says with consumers being pickier, retailers have to be smarter than ever with their advertising strategies to boost revenue this holiday season. 

To help, she has put together 5 tips on how retailers can catch the attention of shoppers and boost revenue this holiday season. 

Melanie shares her predictions on this holiday season’s spending trends: 

• E-commerce is expected become more popular as consumers look for online deals to be savvy with their money 
• Consumers will look for personalisation when they shop, rather than whatever is simple and convenient as they spend smarter

• Businesses will put a greater focus on data to guide their advertising strategies, to ensure each dollar spent reaches the right audience 

• Retailers will leverage their media networks to offset the reduction in topline sales caused by inflation

• Retail media networks will also play an important role in merchandising, helping retailers to avoid excess inventory post-holiday season 

5 ways retailers can boost revenue

1. Timing is key 

As consumers choose their purchases more carefully this year, it’s more important than ever to develop a strong media strategy. Using clever data to ensure you reach the right audience at the right time will enable you to reach a broader audience and boost sales. 

2. Collaborate for shared wins

As consumers are stricter with their spending, retailers and their partners need ways to bolster the bottom line. Data collaboration, in the form of retail media networks or data clean rooms, is a highly effective way for retailers and suppliers to gather insights on their target audience, improve measurement and boost revenue. RMNs provide access to new data streams, so whether consumers click, purchase, or anything in between, retailers and brands can better understand their customers and deliver more personalised experiences that resonate. 

3. Deal or no deal 

As people watch their spending, we expect shoppers to look for more deals and discounts this year. Retail media provides a perfect opportunity for companies to test out new offerings and learn about consumer habits this holiday season, which will deliver higher ROI.

4. Show your customer you know them

Targeted advertising that feels personal to each and every customer will be key to get people to notice your brand this year. By using data to better understand your audiences and the channels they prefer, you can sharpen your personalisation strategies and optimize campaigns on the fly. Privacy will be a crucial element to ensure personalisation aligns with consumer trust.

5. Be flexible 

Be ready to pivot your campaign messaging. Make sure to gather and analyse data during your campaign and, if the message is not resonating, alter your messaging to make sure it delivers. For example, through RMNs, retailers and their partners can assess real-time data garnered and pivot campaign messaging. 

This year it’s all about being agile and flexible to deliver the best outcomes.  

*roymorgan.com/findings/pre-christmas-sales-forecast-to-reach-63-9-billion-up-3-on-last-year

The impact of the pandemic, the uncertain economic environment, and the burnout experienced by nearly two-thirds (60%) of Australian knowledge workers in the last year, have irrevocably changed what employees want from their leaders, according to new Slack research.  

The study, Leadership and the war for talent, based on a survey of over 1,000 Australian knowledge workers, found that stability (51%) and having a good manager (29%) are now more important than salary (28%) when it comes to choosing the company they work for. 

Survey respondents also identified teamwork and collaboration (47%), flexible work (38%), employee wellbeing (37%), and transparent and trustworthy leadership (36%) as the top factors driving organisational success – all valued more highly than financial achievement (28%). When it comes to flexible working, over half of respondents (58%) said they want to be trusted to do their job regardless of location or the hours worked.  

With nearly half of Aussie knowledge workers surveyed considering moving jobs in the next year (45%), and 12% admitting to ‘quiet quitting’ – fulfilling the requirements of their job but not going above and beyond – it’s critical that leaders act to ensure their own leadership style isn’t having a negative impact on the engagement and motivation of their employees. This means focusing more on soft or ‘power’ skills – human-centred, interpersonal skills related to areas such as collaboration, social and emotional intelligence; analysing the time employees are spending on unproductive tasks; exploring ways to elevate productivity with collaborative technology; and figuring out how to meet the varying expectations of employees from different generations, who prefer to work in different ways.

Nicole Woodley, Country Manager, Australia and New Zealand, Slack said, “The rhythm of work already had an irregular heartbeat before the pandemic – we just weren’t aware of how much time we were, and still are, spending on non-productive tasks. We are continuing to go through one of the biggest workplace experiments in the last 100 years as we move from offices to hybrid work, and see factors like trust, wellbeing and soft skills take on as much meaning as financial success and salary. The rewards are clear – greater productivity, a reduction in burn out and better staff retention. We are not at our final destination yet, and what this survey revels are key areas where leaders can get on the front foot.”

Poor leadership leads to burnout, quiet quitting 

The research draws a clear link between poor leadership and a dip in employee morale and productivity. Only half of the respondents say they feel ‘inspired’ by their leaders (53%), and the same number deem leaders as ‘stuck in their ways’. Worryingly, just over a third (39%) do not feel their leader is concerned for their psychological safety.

‘Quiet quitting’ is strongly linked to poor leadership as well. Those with poor managers are far more likely to feel burnt out (75% as compared to 54% for good leaders), and ‘quiet quit’ (27% compared to 6%).

According to the study, employees with poor or average leaders feel they have much less of a voice than if they had good leaders (80% as compared to 23%). Similarly, these employees also feel they have less autonomy (48% vs. 74% amongst those with good leaders), less of a good culture (23% vs. 78%) and that there is more of a disconnect between leaders and employees (79% vs. 46%).

Collaboration technology as potential ‘power tools’ for boosting leadership

The Slack study showed a strong correlation between those respondents that hold their leaders in high regard and those whose leaders embrace the use of collaborative technology. Interestingly, these respondents were also identified as being highly connected to their organisations. Contrastingly, those respondents who deemed their leaders as technology laggards in this area are also more likely to quit their job.

Nearly two-thirds of Aussie knowledge workers surveyed saw collaboration tools as being of utmost importance to their organisation (65%). The key benefits that respondents attributed to collaborative technology included being more productive (65%), getting information to the right people quickly (41%), improving communication with leadership (31%), and speeding up the implementation of projects (31%).

When it comes to implementing collaboration tools, two-fifths gave low scores to the quality of the training received (42%). In addition, only a third of leaders were seen to lead by example when it comes to adoption (30%), with 13% of leaders using collaborative technology less than others, or never or hardly ever using the new tools themselves. Where this happens, 31% of respondents say it makes their job more challenging. 

The real reason Aussie knowledge workers don’t have enough hours in the day

Looking at the amount of non-productive time that Aussie knowledge workers say they are spending on routine and often mundane tasks, the potential value of collaboration tools on organisational success becomes more pronounced. 

For example, nearly a third feel it takes them too long to find information (30%), with over a quarter of this group estimating they spend an hour or more a day on this task. A quarter shared that they were found to be spending too much time on internal processes (26%), with over half of this group saying they are spending between 30 minutes and an hour a day on these.  

Mind the generation gap 

The survey shows significant generational differences in employees in Australia in terms of what they expect from their leaders, making it clear that people management is not a one-size-fits-all.  

• Gen Z are aspirational, being the most likely to seek workplace flexibility (54%), as well as transparent and trustworthy, and empathetic leaders (43% and 34% respectively). While they are more likely to be inspired by leadership (63%), they are the most likely to be burnt out (68%) and to churn (53%).
• Millennials are highly focused on wellbeing (39%). While they are the least likely to want recognition and celebration of success, they are the most likely to feel a disconnect between leaders and employees (57%), and have the highest levels of job dissatisfaction (19%). This group leans in the most to the use of collaboration tools (69%).
• Gen X are also greatly concerned with wellbeing (39%), and the most likely to want a great employee experience (39%). They are also the most likely to state that they want recognition (27%). However, they are the least likely to say leaders communicate well (57%), to find their leaders inspirational (45%), and to see their leaders as caring for their psychological safety (56%). They are the least interested in innovation (13%) and least likely to say they enjoy new collaboration tools being introduced (49%).
• Baby Boomers are middle of the road on most things, but are particularly favourable towards having clear KPIs (22%) and accountability frameworks (19%), and to have a clear level of autonomy in their work.

Cooling down the burnout

The research also showed some clear differentiation between what Aussie knowledge workers in different industries are feeling and looking for: 

• IT & Tech: Respondents from the Tech sector gave the highest scores to their managers for being competent (73%) and communicating well (75%). Although not inspirational (51%), it could be said that IT leaders are seen to lead by example. Perhaps as a result, IT workers are one of the groups least likely to say they felt burnt out (48%).
• Financial Services: Notably much less focused on teamwork and collaboration (38%) and wellbeing (31%) as being the keys to success, respondents from the banking sector were also the most likely to want more meaning in their job (71%). They also reported some of the highest rates of burnout (64%) and quiet quitting (11%).  
• Retail: Retail workers reported the lowest levels of confidence in their leaders and are one of the most dissatisfied with their jobs, most of which are likely to be on-site. They are also most likely to participate in quiet quitting (15%). They want greater focus on wellbeing (39%), empathetic leaders (27%) and a great employee experience (30%).
• Government: Far fewer respondents see their leaders as competent (31%) or concerned for workers’ psychological safety (36%). This sector by far had the highest number of workers very likely to churn (46%) and quiet quit (18%), although the sense of burn out was lower than other industries (47%).  

A new perspective on the office

While employees are increasingly working from home, the office environment is still valued, the Slack study found. When asked what workers felt the office was best suited for, Aussie knowledge workers cited social connection (40%), team building (39%), welcomes and farewells (34%), collaboration and brainstorming (30%), and one-on-one meetings (30%). Activities like progress updates (16%), planning sessions (16%), and company town halls (12%) were perceived as less critical to be held in an office. This suggests that a lot of time can be potentially saved by conducting these activities virtually using collaborative technology.     

Research methodology Slack’s new research, conducted by Honeycomb Strategy, was based on responses from 1,000+ Australian knowledge workers within organisations of 100+ employees. You can view the full report here: Leadership and the war for talent.

As Australians continue to spend more time online to stay in touch, work and consume entertainment, scammers continue to find new and novel ways to take advantage of people. Now more than ever, we all need to remain vigilant. Australians should make sure they are well equipped to spot online scams and protect themselves online. 

Meta has invested heavily to protect the safety of users on our services. But we know scammers are very innovative and we all need to play our part to spot and report scams. As part of Scams Awareness Week (7 – 11 November), we’re launching an education campaign across Facebook and Instagram to help Australians spot some of the most common scams online that we’re seeing across Meta’s apps. It builds on the very successful campaign we ran in July 2022, which reached more than 8 million Australians with tips on how Australians can protect themselves from scams. 

As part of this campaign, Meta created short educational videos that explain some of the common scams Australians should be alert to when using Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, and how to protect themselves online. 

These include: 

• Romance scams
• Online shopping and Marketplace scams
• Phishing scams on Meta
• Family members in need scams
• Investment scams
• Impersonation scams

The campaign also includes simple tips we can all follow to protect ourselves online: 

• Set up two-factor authentication – it’s simple to do and adds a second layer of protection to your account, by sharing a notification whenever there’s an attempt to access your account. To find out more about setting up two-factor authentication (or 2FA) on Facebook, click here. For Instagram, click here.
• Protect your personal information at all times – never share your personal information, such as your ID documents, payment login details or passwords. Don’t transfer money to someone you don’t know.  
• Look out for suspicious behaviour, links, emails or messages – if in doubt, don’t click or respond, and take some time to research. Take action and report your suspicions via our Facebook or Instagram help centres or report it to police. 

Scamming is a societal issue that goes beyond any individual company or app. Scammers are constantly evolving their methods to contact people – over the phone, text, and online – and these methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated. All of us – companies, governments, law enforcement and citizens have a responsibility to fight this shared challenge and protect ourselves online. Meta continues to invest in new technologies to detect and remove these scams, and provide resources for our community to spot and report scams.  

Josh Machin, Head of Policy – Meta Australia, says: The whole industry needs to collaborate in this area, and that’s why we’re proud to partner with a range of industry stakeholders, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), IDCARE and Australian Law Enforcement and Puppy Scam Awareness Australia to share important measures to combat scams and ensure a safe and secure environment for Australians online.

Together, through education, technological investments and reporting tools we can all play a role in helping to reduce scams online.

The combination of a post-pandemic world and ongoing extreme weather events have made for challenging conditions for small businesses but the quickly approaching summer period is a time for small businesses to take advantage of the relaxed holiday vibes and capitalize on the holiday period. Vista has compiled a list of business and marketing success tips to help Aussie small businesses have the best summer of business.

Small Business Summer Success Tips

1. Plan and prep for the summer holidays

Given a lot of people engage with business around the holiday period, think of ways that your business can capitalize on this summer activity, for example holiday picnic baskets if you’re a food retailer or sales on summer clothing lines for clothing retailers.

2. Host an event for your customers

With the return of warm weather and the festive spirit in the air, people are ready to get out and engage with their community. Think of hosting a summer event relevant to your business that will allow you to market your business, connect with customers and drive sales.

3. Offer seasonal incentives

To help drive customer engagement, offer incentives such as a freebie or discount and get people excited to do business with you over the summer months.

4. Connect with the small business community

Make the most of the small business community and partner with other businesses to offer additional value to your customers and attract new customers.

5. Spruce up your space

Whether you have a brick-and-mortar store or a purely online business, get in the summer mood with a refresh. This could be through décor, offerings or branding.

6. Target seasonal visitors

If you live in an area that attracts tourists in the warm-weather months, you have the opportunity to connect with an entirely new customer base during the summer season – so, make a plan to target them.

7. Take advantage of outdoor events

Warm temperatures and hours of sunshine create the perfect backdrop for outdoor summer events. Research outdoor events happening in your area and find out ways to get involved.