The founder behind a local fashion force with sales growth of over 200 per cent year-on-year has been honoured as one of the brightest business minds in the country.
Showpo CEO Jane Lu has been confirmed as one of the Australian finalists set to vie for the title of Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur Of The Year.
Twenty-seven year-old Lu launched fashion etailer Showpo, in conjunction with a store in Broadway, in 2010.
Speaking exclusively to ragtrader.com.au, Lu recently confirmed that the business has recorded sales growth of 200-300 per cent year-on-year for Australia over the past two years.
In addition, Lu revealed the etailer's social media presence has also sky-rocketed since launch, with linear growth to date.
Showpo currently boasts 68,000 Facebook followers, and claims to consistently have an extremely high engagement level of 30-60 per cent.
“On the most basic level, each year our Facebook fan count has been growing at a rate of 200-300 per cent in line with our business growth. Social media has been our main form of marketing to date,” Lu said.
Offering her advice for brands wanting to increase social media engagement with their customers, Lu said the key is to deliver quality content.
“The top tip we could give brands is to post relevant content that your fans will hit 'Like' on or 'Share'. Look at your average number of likes you would typically get on a post, and aim to improve on that.
“The way we like to set our level is as a percentage of total fans. So for example, if your business has 40,000 fans, one per cent of those fans liking each post is a great target to aim for. So everything you post, you should think 'will this post get 40 likes?'
"If the answer is no, then try find better content to post. The more likes you get on your posts, the higher your engagement rate ( people 'talking about this') will be.”
Lu has been named as one of more than 10 entrepreneurs in retail and related fields in the running for this year’s Australian EY Entrepreneur Of The Year.
The 2014 nominee field includes 84 entrepreneurs running innovative businesses across a wide range of sectors including: fashion, technology, childcare, food and beverage, solar energy, engineering, waste management and cosmetics.
As a global program, EY Entrepreneur Of The Year has entries from more than 145 cities in over 60 countries.
Each country’s program sends its overall winner to the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year awards in Monte Carlo.
The Australian nominees will first vie for regional honours at award ceremonies being held across the country during July and August.
Regional winners then go on to compete at the national awards, which will be held in Melbourne at the end of November.