In this article we meet Jason Smith from EverythingGeraldton.
Jason Smith runs EverythingGeraldton – Geraldton’s favourite news and community information hub which consists of an app, a website and a Facebook Page (with over 9,000 likes!). The idea has germinated over a long time. Frustrated by the lack of digital media and an easy way to connect with everything going on in town, Jason decided to create something he would use – and so 6 months ago EverythingGeraldton was established!
The organisation has grown very quickly and Jason has automated as much as possible to help with handling the large amount of daily tasks, and have added staff to help with a lot of things.
Web traffic has continued to grow since the launch and new people are discovering and downloading the app each day. The team are now happy to announce that due to the demand to bring the service to other towns, EverythingBunbury has recently been launched!
“Social media is certainly a buzz word people enjoy throwing around these days, and I shudder every time I hear someone tell me they are going to be successful because they will use ‘social media’.”
Jason rightly pointed out that social media platforms are a tool that can suck up a lot of valuable time if one doesn’t learn how to use them, or invest the time in learn the nuances of each platform. EverythingGeraldton has had a large amount of success with social media but it hasn’t come without it’s costs – they’ve been through lots and lots of failures before learning the right ingredients to make it as successful as it is today.
“I’m sure when telephones were a new thing, people were always asking whether their business needed a phone, but unless you’re going to do all the other things that go along with having a phone like training staff how to use it, employing people to answer the thing, and letting people know what your phone number is… then a phone is pretty useless. It’s the same with social media. If you don’t provide all the resources needed to manage your social media and delight your customers, it’s like having a phone and not answering the thing.”
Jason pointed out that when working in news media, it’s only a matter of time until EverythingGeraldton will write something you don’t like. But he says people have been really supportive and continued to use the products even when a particular opinion piece didn’t line up with their personal beliefs.
“The Geraldton community is supportive and brutally honest at the same time, which has been a great asset. People tell me when they don’t like something, and thank me when they do.
“Regarding Geraldton… there are a lot of things that make it tough to be a tech start up in Geraldton, like isolation. But Pollinators has been a great starting point to meet people and draw inspiration to execute ideas.”
If you want to keep track of everything and anything that goes on in Geraldton make sure you’ve liked EverythingGeraldton on Facebook, visit the website and download the app!
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