June 15, 2016
Business confidence in the South Burnett is lifting, Mayor Keith Campbell told Wednesday’s Council meeting.
Delivering his Economic Development, Governance and Communications portfolio report, the Mayor said over 100 businesses participated in a recent South Burnett Business Confidence Survey run by South Burnett Directions.
The survey found:
- Business trading conditions across the region had improved significantly over the last twelve months compared to the previous year
- Non-retail businesses significantly out-performed retail and personal services businesses last year, though both are expecting better outcomes in the year ahead
- General business expectations for the coming year are increasingly positive
- The outlook over the medium term (three years) is even stronger, though projections for the regional economy are incrementally worse
- Sales, profits and staffing levels of businesses all increased during the previous year and are expected to grow in the year ahead
- The most important issues for local businesses are council leadership and efficiency, government policy and legislation, increasing input costs, declining customer bases, and broadband and IT access.
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An innovative “South Burnett Rewards” shop local campaign will start in September this year, the Mayor said.
The program has been sourced by South Burnett Directions, and will include an electronic rewards system that will be rolled out exclusively in the region.
Interested local businesses will be able to trial the system for free in the build-up to the campaign launch.
The benefits of the campaign will be increased awareness of local products, services and competitive offers; increased foot traffic in local retail businesses; and new opportunities for businesses to partner with one another.
“South Burnett Rewards” was promoted to local businesses in a series of business breakfasts organised by South Burnett Directions across the region in May.
Businesses who’d like to take part can contact South Burnett Directions for more information.
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The SBRC will develop a communication framework to guide how it communicates with the community.
Mayor Campbell said calls for better communication were an issue in the March elections, and he intended to lead the development of a better system.
This would include a review of the Council’s existing Communication Engagement and Media Policies.
The SBRC works within the International Association Of Public Participation’s guidelines.
These define what types of engagement it employs with stakeholders and the community at large.
The new framework will provide triggers for what types of engagement will be applied for particular issues, and when.
The process is expected to take some time.
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Social media is “a moveable feast” where it is difficult to successfully deliver effective communication with the community.
Mayor Campbell said the Council now uses platforms like Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to inform and engage with customers, but they both have limitations, including the inability to register requests for service.
Instead, customer requests continue to be mananged through a dedicated in-house system which monitors performance and tracks outcomes to ensure every request is captured, processed and addressed,
As an example of how patchy and unrepresentative social media can be, the Mayor reported that although the Council’s Facebook page now has 5460 likers, most of them are women aged between 25 and 44.
Mayor Campbell said an analysis of the page’s demographics disclosed 72 per cent of its audience was women, and 27 per cent were men.
The Council also found that 28 per cent of the page’s fans are aged 25-34, and 26 per cent are aged 35-44.
According to Facebook, the Council’s 25 posts between June 1-12 reached 25,996 people – an average of slightly over 1000 readers per post, which was less than one fifth of the total “liker” base.
