Annaliese Allen is the founder of Honeybell Waterwear designs. She is a mother of two, a sun lover and a constant sufferer of #paleskinproblems which resulted in her shifting from being a corporate accountant into an entrepreneur!
Honeybell Waterwear is all about fashionable sun protection coverups and resort wear, for women who think rashies are ugly.
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Leveraging Facebook groups
Social media has empowered small business owners to create an inclusive sharing economy, where skills are swapped, opinions are provided and encouragement is plentiful. Annaliese has found that the easiest way to do this is through Facebook groups.
She says that she would advise any business owner to join Facebook groups and contribute, get involved, and be helpful – and to do this without expectations or conditions attached.
Defining target audiences
Annaliese had a pretty good idea of her target audiences, but she was savvy enough to use Facebook advertising strategically, with the primary purpose of defining her target audience. She used all the analytics and information provided to learn more about who specifically was responding to her content. From there she was able to also use that information to segment the Honeybell Waterwear email marketing, edit website copy, and set up social media posts.
Understanding not all social media works for businesses
Although Annaliese found success on Facebook she realised that Twitter and Snapchat were not driving sales.
There were a number of reasons for this, including that she’s not a native user herself and doesn’t have a passion for them. But like many small businesses it also came down to resourcing – she only has a finite amount of time to dedicate to marketing.
Most importantly though, Annaliese found that there wasn’t a bulk of her target audience using those outlets.
Annalise Allen, Founder of Honeybell Waterwear
Annaliese Allen is a corporate accountant turned entrepreneur when corporate life clashed with raising a family. As an experienced Chartered Accountant with over 15 years of experience working for top-tier firms in both Australia and the US, Annaliese is an accomplished business professional. When it came time to start her own business, her strong financial acumen gave her the ability to make a splash with Honeybell Waterwear.
