SBDC-Hilo Offers Social Media Business Workshops

Social media is an element of content and marketing strategy used by most contemporary businesses.

The Small Business Development Center of East Hawai‘i is offering business owners and entrepreneurs interested in upping their social media skills two upcoming classes in February. The classes will be held on Thursdays, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Hawaii Innovation Center, located at 117 Kiawe Street in Hilo.

The first class, held on Feb. 20, is titled Creating Your Social Media Strategy in 2020. Providing useful insights and knowledge, participants will learn how to create an overall social media strategy, write engaging social media posts and blogs, and perhaps most importantly, save hours of time a week on social media, a press release said. Using real-life case studies, participants will also learn techniques that will help grow their business and increase sales.

Attendees will learn:

• Four keys to online marketing.
• The top 5 elements of creating a successful social media marketing campaign.
• How to tailor your business’ social media marketing plan to your audience.
• How to stand out in the social media universe.

“This is a great foundation class for those wanting to increase their business’ social media marketing efforts this year and in the new decade,” said SBDC-Hilo Director Judi Mellon. “We hear from a lot of small business owners that using social media effectively is a real sticking point for them. We’re thrilled to offer these classes to help our island’s business community.”

On Feb. 27, SBDC-Hilo will offer a class titled Understanding Facebook Ads in a Changing Market. An intro-level class, this workshop covers the basic types of Facebook advertising, including how to promote your business page, boosting a post (and why that may or may not be a good idea) and driving traffic to your business website.

Attendees will learn how to target audience segments, set Facebook advertising campaign goals and how to develop compelling copy and visuals. Workshop participants should already have a business account on Facebook prior to class.

These two classes will be taught by award-winning social media instructor Denise Laitinen, owner of DLC Hawai‘i Media. A seasoned public speaker, social media trainer and writer, Laitinen has taught several dozen of social media classes on the island at the university level and for corporate clients, providing practical, easy to understand steps to business owners looking to grow their business online.

As a result of her years of work helping small business owners with social media, Laitinen was named the 2018 Small Business Administration Advocate for Media and Journalism in Hawaii County.

Each workshop is $25 pre-registration, $30 walk-in fee. Register online at www.hisbdc.org. For more information, call the Small Business Development Center at 808-933-0776.

The Hawai‘i Small Business Development Center is a program of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the US Small Business Administration.