Taylor Delaney of Mesaío and Designer Op Shop Emporium

Mesaío and Designer Op Shop Emporium are names synonymous with fashion in Canberra. Perhaps you’ve set foot in their retail space, snapped up a hard-to-find piece on Mesaío’s Instagram stories or drooled over Designer Op Shop Emporium curated Instagram feed. Either way, you’ve probably encountered Taylor Delaney’s magic. Here, we chat with her about her social media efforts, learnings and of course, the fashionable wins.

What social media channels are the most impactful for Mesaío and Designer Op Shop Emporium? 

Instagram is our primary channel, although we dabble in Facebook (mostly by the way of Meta ads). I’ve found Instagram the most impactful for us but also easiest to manage while being a co-owner of both businesses and physically working in our bricks and mortar store full-time.

I will admit, I think Mesaío should have a presence on TikTok which we will eventually implement.

How do you connect with your community on social media? 

For both Mesaío and Designer Op Shop Emporium, we aim to always respond to our direct messages within a few hours and with as much detail as we can for the customer. We take the time to type their name in responses. It’s a little thing, but it matters.

Throughout the years of Designer Op Shop Emporium being on Instagram, we have found our community always shows the highest level of engagement on posts telling a story of some kind. For example, an image of my mother Sharyn (who is my business partner) and I on our shop's birthday, thanking our customers for their support. I’ve definitely found that people love to engage and feel like they are connecting to a person behind the small business.

In your experience, what is the biggest pro and biggest con when it comes to social media efforts?

The biggest pro would definitely be being able to utilise the platform to sell to customers across the country. While we do have an online store, it acts as a showcase – or selection – for the thousands of products we have in store. Instagram is a great alternative to quickly post a story, have the client call the store and pay over the phone and the item is shipped within minutes. Using this method, we sell items via Instagram almost daily!

A con would be how Instagram used to be so great for engagement, without having to pay for ads. It’s a shame how, without paying Meta, our followers perhaps won't always see our posts. Back in the day, our posts would receive much higher engagement than they do now which can be a little frustrating but as everything changes, you just have to keep up to date. One thing that we should be doing more of is implementing regular videos into our content.

What is a mistake or misstep that Mesaío or Designer Op Shop Emporium has made on social media and what lesson did it teach you?

Social media is the long game, you have to be consistent otherwise your engagement will definitely suffer. Over the Christmas period, we close our store for two weeks and I have made mistakes in the past where I have completely stopped posting during that time. Once we re-opened for the new year, it took months to get back to our prior engagement rate. I now prepare drafts ahead of time to ensure the account remains active with new posts, even though our doors are closed.

What has been a standout moment or milestone for Designer Op Shop Emporium on social media?

The biggest milestone was reaching 10,000 followers on Designer Op Shop Emporium’s Instagram. it felt rewarding to get that far after years of juggling social media along with the many other aspects of running the business.

How do you measure your social media success?

I measure our social media success by sales. If our social media can either bring people into our physical store or sell items online one way or another, this to us is a success.

Looking forward, what does the future hold for Mesaío and Designer Op Shop Emporium when it comes to social media activity and efforts?

For Designer Op Shop Emporium, we have just upped our photography game by taking store imagery on a professional camera for grid images instead of always using iPhone. Luckily, I enjoy the creative process of taking photos so this seemed like a natural progression. I will continue to use our same preset filter (cool tones, slightly desaturated) imagery but I'm hoping the elevation of professionalism will take our Instagram to a new height. I also think an aesthetically pleasing grid is still a massive drawcard.  

For Mesaío, we have recently gone to a more high-end fashion approach on Instagram. We began posting images with a clean white border to create that high end, artsy feel and to really differentiate our page to others. It could seem like an old school fad to post with borders, however I think when it is done right, it can look really chic. We also will eventually delve into the world of TikTok for Mesaío as we think the pre-loved luxury market will work really well on the platform, I just need to take the leap!

Follow Mesaío or Designer Op Shop Emporium on Instagram, or indulge in a spot of online shopping over on Mesaío or Designer Op Shop Emporium.