Zoe deLuca, Social Media Guru

We spend five minutes with local social media guru Zoe deLuca

Zoe, how did this all start for you? I started in social media marketing more than three years ago, really out of desperation. I was building an MLM business and turned to the internet to find a way to market my business on a very limited budget. I started with Twitter and was hooked on the results!

What did you do before?  I’m a marine biologist by training and had 10 years’ experience in environmental planning and scientific education/extension roles for state and federal governments. I started my first internet marketing business in 2003 to allow me flexibility in working from home around the youngest of our five children. We maximise modern technology to create a work/life balance.  With cloud-based applications we are able to check emails, conduct client meetings and training, invoice these clients and manage remote staff members all from my laptop and mobile devices (phone and iPad).  This has freed me up to truly work from anywhere in the world - whether an airport lounge in New York or our back deck in Twin Waters, and to build a business in multiple countries, time zones and currencies while still having the flexibility to ferry children to and from school and associated sporting/social events.

What exactly do you do for businesses? I show businesses how to harness the power of social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, to grow their businesses. I actually USE social media marketing to promote my own business and teach others to do what I have done - whether that be a training seminar, building their social media marketing system for them and/or managing their social media on their behalf.

How many Twitter/Facebook followers do you actually have? I have over 4000 friends and ‘likers’ on Facebook, 50,000 followers across multiple accounts on Twitter and 62,000 views of my videos on YouTube. 

What advice would you give our readers about the necessity of Facebook and Twitter for business?  Remember when you used to ask, “What is this email thing?” and “Do I really need it?” Then there were websites, and most business now agree that a website is a crucial part of your marketing. Social media is the next step. Over the next three years it will become a necessary part of every business as it becomes so ingrained in our daily lives.  The way our clients communicate is changing and, as business owners, the way we market has to keep up. It will no longer be a question of whether or not you are going to “do” social media but rather whether or not you want to be in business.

Which would you say is more important and why? 
This is completely dependent upon who you are marketing to and where they can be found online.  It is really important that you fully understand what you want to achieve with your social media marketing before designing a strategy of how and where you will market.