Small Town, Big Impact: Revolutionizing Social Media Marketing from Rural Nova Scotia

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Nola Simon: I'll see you next time.

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Thank you so much for joining me.

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My name is Nola Simon and I'm the host of
the Hybrid Remote Center of Excellence.

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And today we actually have the person
that I wanted to be the first guest

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on my podcast, and she has the honor
of being the last for 2024 . So

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ingrid Dion, Ingrid and I have been
connected for a very long time.

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When I actually really started
getting active on social

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media and I changed jobs, I

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had connected with people who are
doing the social media because

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that's how I wanted to grow my brand
and I wanted to understand better.

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And Ingrid had this connection with
the company that I was working with.

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And she did all kinds
of interesting things.

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I remember her posting about alpacas and
chocolate and, uh, knitting, and I don't

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do any of that, but it caught my attention
because it was so different and much like

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very organic to who she is as a person.

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And I remember reaching out to her and
talking to her about, because it would

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have been actually probably when you first
started the business, yeah, for sure.

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Yeah.

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And she told me all about her approach.

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And one of the ways that we really
connected was actually a random

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connection with Erica M on LinkedIn.

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It was.

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It's just bizarre.

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And if you're not Canadian, you may
not truly understand who Erica M

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is actually, especially to Gen X.

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But she used to be the host of Much Music.

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And to actually have an interaction
with her, when every day I used

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to watch her after high school.

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Anyways Ingrid and I tag
teamed Erica on LinkedIn.

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Ingrid actually brought her in
to actually do some work for the

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company that we were working for.

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And I eventually built up that connection,
and Erica and her sister have both

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been guests on my podcast before.

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The connection to Ingrid is,
what I'm telling you, is deep.

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We're way back.

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It goes way back.

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Yeah, exactly.

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But that is that story of how you
built your company and how you

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got to where you are right now.

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Because again, if you don't know
who Ingrid is, you should because

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she's been nominated by Ernst
Young for entrepreneur of the year.

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And she's done it all from a tiny little
place in Nova Scotia called Yarmouth.

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That's right.

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So do you want to tell me the upshot of
your bio because you're you said she sent

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me the bio last night and I'm like that.

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That's exactly the story that
really needs to be amplified.

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Yeah.

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So I guess my story is
just being able to run.

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An award winning world class marketing
agency from a tiny little town that

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has a population of around 8000.

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that is 3 hours from the nearest Starbucks
and working with multinational companies.

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billion dollar companies that
are our clients that we're

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creating social media content for.

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And it's also very near and dear
to my heart to hire locally.

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So I'm so proud to say that my entire
team is either from rural Nova Scotia

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or living in rural Nova Scotia.

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And in fact, four of us
are here in Yarmouth.

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We have a little office on Main Street,
the cutest office on the whole street.

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And yeah, so a bunch of us are just
here in Yarmouth, which is a place where

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there never was this kind of industry.

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It really relies on fishing, forestry.

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And tourism, and those
are the main industries.

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So when I was looking for a
job in my field of marketing or

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communications there were no jobs here.

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And so I, that's how I, that's one of
the ways that I started remote working.

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Back when I was 10 years ago, I
was a single mom living under the

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poverty line and working three jobs.

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And my fourth job was
to try and find a job.

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In my field and there were none locally.

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So I applied for a lot of jobs in
Halifax, which is a three hour drive away.

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And I would say ideally I would
work there one day a week and then

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work from home the rest of the week.

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And this was before the pandemic
and no one wanted to go for that.

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So I got rejected over and over again.

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Until an agency finally
took a chance on me.

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and hired me as a social
media coordinator.

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It was very entry level, but
at least it was in my field.

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And so every Monday
morning, I got up at 4.

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20 in the morning and drove the three
hours, four hours with traffic to Halifax,

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worked my day there, drove the four
hours again in traffic home, and then

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the rest of the week I worked from home
so that I could be home with my son.

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Yeah, and like anybody in Canada who lives
outside of a major city can relate to that

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story because that's what you're told.

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That's what I was always told is you're
not going to get any kind of job that

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pays anything and that is worthwhile
doing unless you actually go to the

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city and as a mom to have that's almost
like what a 5 hour, 6 hour commute.

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Yeah, it was six to eight hours commute.

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Yeah.

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And even if you're just doing that
one day creates so much anxiety

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because you have to make sure that
everything is running in your house,

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that your kid is taken care of.

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And if something goes wrong, even though
it's just one day, you're hours away.

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How do You have to have that village
that everybody talks about that you

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need while you're parenting, except it
doesn't necessarily always exist easily.

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Like it's like pulling in favors.

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And I remember that as well, too.

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And it's such a challenge.

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And so that's where I don't think
that story gets amplified enough.

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And I don't think people understand
how much Hitchback it would have

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taken to create a business like that
on your own, in that remote area.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So yeah, that's the other part of
the story is, after I did that for

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three and a half years doing that
commute to Halifax Mondays and also

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once I'm I was able to climb up to
manager of social pretty quickly there.

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And so I was also managing a
team in Toronto and I was in

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Toronto almost once a month.

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So I was really, all over the place.

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And then.

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Working from home in my tiny community
as much as I could so that I could be

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home, but I eventually left and started
my own business and trying to grow

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a business from here where I'm not I
do have a few clients here locally,

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but most of our clients are not here.

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So when I'm here, I'm not
necessarily meeting clients.

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Like we don't have clients
that come in off the street.

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And want to work with us.

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I have to travel and go to Toronto
and go to Atlanta and go to Halifax in

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order to meet clients in order to do
that networking to grow our business.

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But it's something that I'm willing to
do to keep the business here and to keep

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creating jobs here in rural Nova Scotia.

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Yeah, and it's so important.

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So I know you have a very deep
connection with remote work but you've

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chosen to actually create an office.

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So why did you actually decide to
actually go to the cute little office

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on the street, which I absolutely
adore and I've always followed all

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your innovations and decorations.

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And so why did you actually do want to
have an in person environment in your MFA?

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It started because the
internet at home was so bad.

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That's a typical Canadian story too.

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Yeah, so we had just one step up from
dial up internet, and I was finding it

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terribly difficult to run my business.

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Uploading a video would take a
day and that's no exaggeration.

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I remember I was uploading a video
once and it said that there was

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like 20 something hours left.

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And when I told the person
that I was working with that.

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It was like that.

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It was going to take that long.

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They thought I was joking.

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And I was like no, literally.

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Yeah, I'm literally an hour outside of
Toronto, and I once went to an event and

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I took all kinds of photos of the CEO.

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I had 400 photos and whatnot of the
whole event, and it was taking so long

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that they actually asked me if I would
consider driving in to bring my device.

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So they could actually
plug it in and download it.

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Rather than wait for the internet
connection to download it all.

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Plus of course, all the cyber security
protections and all that stuff.

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Yeah.

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So no, I believe you.

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I used to, I still drop calls like crazy,
but that's just a reality of cell phone

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coverage in Canada, which of course,
you know, if you're paying for it.

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at any certain speed, it's like
a second mortgage to begin with.

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Yeah,

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exactly.

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I know our cell phone coverage
here is still absolute.

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It's an absolute disaster.

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Like I can't, I do the drive
to Halifax frequently still.

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And there are so many dead zones
that I, during that drive three

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hours, I can't take any calls.

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Because they would drop all the time, so
it's really time that I spend listening

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to podcasts and educating myself because
I can't schedule a call during that time.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I totally understood that.

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I've always wondered that question, but
that makes complete and utter sense.

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But yeah so when I started coming to, so I
live like 40 minutes outside of Yarmouth.

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even in a more rural area population 2000.

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And so in Yarmouth, the
internet was much better.

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So I started coming
into a co working space.

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And working from there in order to
access the juicy internet and and

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eventually I got my own office space.

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It was a second floor walk up
above a clothing store and work.

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We worked from there for.

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A little over a year, I think, and there
were some structural issues with that

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building, so we eventually lived in it.

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Wasn't there rain or
flooding or something?

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It rained indoors, yeah.

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Yes.

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That was the problem.

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Yeah, and it felt like Nova Scotia doesn't
get rain, it rained indoors and the

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rent was cheap I couldn't really expect.

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A roof over our heads at that rate, but
we moved last year to this new space

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and it's street level and it's great,
but there are a bunch of us who like

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to come into an office and be together.

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We also do a lot of photography
and videography in the office.

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All of our props are here.

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So because we work with product based
businesses, most, mostly we have tons

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of props, tons of products, and, we
need a place for all of that stuff.

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That's why we have an office.

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But I work from the office three
or four days a week usually.

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And some people rarely
come into the office.

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Some people come in more frequently.

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It's just good to be able
to give people options.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And having the choice and the
autonomy to choose what's going

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to serve the work really is the
gift there, that flexibility.

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And that's always what I was after was
not necessarily, I said to somebody

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the other day that if somebody had ever
let me work like the six to two shift,

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so I could have balanced childcare and
commuting and hours and stuff like that, I

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would never have actually pursued remote.

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Because I would have been trusted
to have the autonomy and the

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flexibility to decide what's going to
serve the work and balance my life.

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And 10 years later, we're still
challenged to actually have

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that kind of level of trust.

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So when you're, when I'm talking to people
who run their own business, what stands

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out to me the most is the investment
in trust and interest in your people.

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And you've just.

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Epitomize that so kudos to you.

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This is why she's award winning, right?

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So I wanted to talk about your approach
to actually attracting clients I remember

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you telling me the story of how you
actually approached my former employer

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and you really just looked at how they
were managing their social media and

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sent them a note online basically saying
like Hey who's writing your stuff?

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Do you have a need something like that?

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You Yeah.

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So that, that is one way that
we approach potential clients.

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We just, we see that they need
help and we want to help them.

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I am very, I don't know if it picky
is the word, but I'm very specific

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about who I want to work with.

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And early on while running the business, I
took some gigs with some potential clients

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that weren't quite aligned with what.

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I feel the way that I am or
my interests or my strengths.

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And so I made a sign and put it on the
wall of my home office and it said,

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before saying yes to a client, the
first question was, is this a social

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media, is this social media work?

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Because I was saying yes to
translation work and web copywriting.

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And, so I've just wanted to
niche down to social media.

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So is this a social media gig?

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If the answer is yes,
then you can keep going.

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And then the second question was, does
the client make you want to dance?

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00:13:14,401 --> 00:13:16,941
And if the answer was yes,
then I could say yes to them.

232
00:13:16,961 --> 00:13:19,491
But if the answer was no, then
it meant that it wasn't a fit.

233
00:13:19,931 --> 00:13:22,561
And so I'm very particular
about who we work with.

234
00:13:22,581 --> 00:13:25,711
It has to be a client that excites me.

235
00:13:25,731 --> 00:13:28,761
It has to be a client that excites
my team as well, because they're

236
00:13:28,761 --> 00:13:30,091
going to be doing a lot of the work.

237
00:13:30,451 --> 00:13:32,551
So if it doesn't excite everyone.

238
00:13:33,171 --> 00:13:35,051
Then we say no a lot.

239
00:13:35,601 --> 00:13:39,471
When you run your own business
you're able to pick and choose

240
00:13:39,471 --> 00:13:40,391
who you want to work with.

241
00:13:40,571 --> 00:13:41,611
Life is short.

242
00:13:41,901 --> 00:13:45,351
Let's work with clients that we really
love and that really align with us.

243
00:13:45,781 --> 00:13:47,471
And that's how I'm running things.

244
00:13:48,041 --> 00:13:52,281
Yeah, and I saw you write a little bit
about how you're actually targeting

245
00:13:52,281 --> 00:13:56,041
conferences, but not necessarily
marketing conferences, but you're going

246
00:13:56,341 --> 00:13:59,381
to conferences that they run for industry.

247
00:13:59,381 --> 00:14:02,771
You mentioned product lines I don't
know, chocolate conferences, I would

248
00:14:02,771 --> 00:14:03,981
turn to a chocolate conference.

249
00:14:05,746 --> 00:14:10,606
Yeah, this was a realization that
I had at Collision in Toronto

250
00:14:10,906 --> 00:14:12,276
last year, I think it was.

251
00:14:12,336 --> 00:14:16,926
I'm at this conference, it's tech,
it's social media, it's marketing, it's

252
00:14:16,926 --> 00:14:19,126
communication, it's, all of those things.

253
00:14:19,636 --> 00:14:22,696
And I'm thinking, why am I here?

254
00:14:22,706 --> 00:14:25,536
There's, I have, there
are no potential clients.

255
00:14:25,886 --> 00:14:27,856
No, none of my ideal clients are here.

256
00:14:28,246 --> 00:14:28,626
I'm here.

257
00:14:28,626 --> 00:14:30,686
I'm learning stuff about my industry.

258
00:14:30,696 --> 00:14:31,136
Sure.

259
00:14:31,996 --> 00:14:34,516
I'm not getting any new business here.

260
00:14:34,916 --> 00:14:39,016
It's all like SAS companies
or other marketing agencies.

261
00:14:39,596 --> 00:14:43,976
So then I thought I have to go
to CPG conferences because we're

262
00:14:44,026 --> 00:14:46,856
targeting consumer products mostly.

263
00:14:47,271 --> 00:14:49,181
So consumer packaged goods conferences.

264
00:14:49,191 --> 00:14:51,981
So I start looking like on my computer.

265
00:14:52,761 --> 00:14:55,901
What's a list of Canadian CPG conferences?

266
00:14:55,901 --> 00:14:59,651
And I get a list of them and
I just pick one arbitrarily.

267
00:14:59,661 --> 00:15:03,021
So last year we went to
Grocery Innovations Canada.

268
00:15:03,531 --> 00:15:04,311
We got a booth.

269
00:15:04,331 --> 00:15:06,891
We were the only marketing agency there.

270
00:15:07,186 --> 00:15:07,986
Wow.

271
00:15:07,996 --> 00:15:09,846
Shooting fish in a barrel.

272
00:15:10,576 --> 00:15:11,866
That is so smart.

273
00:15:12,496 --> 00:15:12,906
Yeah.

274
00:15:12,906 --> 00:15:16,276
And when we went there, I was like, this
is the smartest thing I've ever done.

275
00:15:18,366 --> 00:15:20,236
I've never had an idea
that's good in my life.

276
00:15:22,816 --> 00:15:26,846
And so this year we went to
CHFA the Canadian health food

277
00:15:27,036 --> 00:15:28,596
association, really big company.

278
00:15:28,786 --> 00:15:32,426
diet conference for health food products.

279
00:15:32,786 --> 00:15:34,936
And again, we had a booth there.

280
00:15:34,936 --> 00:15:37,756
There were a couple of marketing
agencies there, but not too many.

281
00:15:37,756 --> 00:15:43,766
So this has been really a good way of
us for us to meet potential clients

282
00:15:43,796 --> 00:15:44,846
and for us to grow the business.

283
00:15:45,996 --> 00:15:46,346
Yeah.

284
00:15:46,396 --> 00:15:48,326
And I encourage everyone
to do the same thing.

285
00:15:48,326 --> 00:15:51,416
Think about your target customer
and go to their conferences.

286
00:15:51,416 --> 00:15:53,656
Don't bother going to
your industry conferences.

287
00:15:54,101 --> 00:15:55,621
Yeah, no, it makes total sense.

288
00:15:55,621 --> 00:15:57,321
And I honestly, I find that as well too.

289
00:15:57,321 --> 00:16:00,611
It's if I look at people who are
doing the same sort of work that

290
00:16:00,611 --> 00:16:04,121
I'm doing with hybrid remote,
why am I hanging around with you?

291
00:16:04,121 --> 00:16:07,281
Because you're, it's like an echo chamber.

292
00:16:07,281 --> 00:16:09,021
You're all saying the same things.

293
00:16:09,301 --> 00:16:12,281
You might have different focuses,
but really like you're really just

294
00:16:12,281 --> 00:16:15,741
trying to convince each other that
you're good and it's this is useless.

295
00:16:16,241 --> 00:16:16,481
Yeah.

296
00:16:16,481 --> 00:16:16,951
So true.

297
00:16:17,191 --> 00:16:17,701
Totally.

298
00:16:17,811 --> 00:16:18,801
I totally agree with that.

299
00:16:19,131 --> 00:16:20,861
But that's what I always
admired about you.

300
00:16:20,881 --> 00:16:25,561
You have a way of thinking
differently about how things get done.

301
00:16:26,091 --> 00:16:27,301
So who inspires you?

302
00:16:29,281 --> 00:16:30,401
Oh, that's a great question.

303
00:16:33,651 --> 00:16:34,391
I don't know.

304
00:16:34,491 --> 00:16:37,191
Uh, I just think that.

305
00:16:38,786 --> 00:16:44,076
So just to go to I'll think about
who inspires me, but yeah, but going

306
00:16:44,076 --> 00:16:47,846
back to thinking differently, I
think the fact that I don't have a

307
00:16:47,846 --> 00:16:50,206
background in business is an asset.

308
00:16:50,676 --> 00:16:54,226
It's, it's a blessing and a curse, but
the fact that I don't know how to run a

309
00:16:54,226 --> 00:17:00,576
business and I'm just, Figuring it out as
I go is an asset because I'm like looking

310
00:17:00,576 --> 00:17:06,436
at things in other perspectives trying to
tackle this, running a business, however I

311
00:17:06,436 --> 00:17:11,756
can figure it out and sometimes it brings
in some creative solutions because I'm

312
00:17:11,756 --> 00:17:18,376
not studying it the way that a commerce
degree or an MBA might scale a business.

313
00:17:18,846 --> 00:17:20,656
Yeah, no, I totally agree.

314
00:17:20,716 --> 00:17:25,366
And honestly, that's why I hire some
people to like my coach Gary twig.

315
00:17:25,376 --> 00:17:26,936
She is in Winnipeg.

316
00:17:27,276 --> 00:17:31,326
But she has a actually similar story
because she initially was teaching drama.

317
00:17:31,326 --> 00:17:34,756
She's a single mother, she's
living under the poverty line.

318
00:17:35,126 --> 00:17:39,066
And then she got into coaching
and she realized that applying

319
00:17:39,076 --> 00:17:41,746
theater to coaching and business.

320
00:17:42,331 --> 00:17:47,421
was actually a brilliant solution because
she has a perspective that people in

321
00:17:47,421 --> 00:17:49,121
business don't just generally have.

322
00:17:49,781 --> 00:17:54,871
And that differentiated background,
I think really is the genius.

323
00:17:54,931 --> 00:17:57,851
Personally, it's what
attracts me to people.

324
00:17:57,861 --> 00:18:00,221
So yeah, I love that
you've identified that.

325
00:18:01,056 --> 00:18:02,516
Yeah, it's interesting.

326
00:18:02,526 --> 00:18:04,046
And I guess who inspires me?

327
00:18:04,346 --> 00:18:08,506
One of the most influential people
in my career was the person who hired

328
00:18:08,506 --> 00:18:13,236
me at the agency who gave me that
chance as a social media coordinator.

329
00:18:13,606 --> 00:18:15,876
And and allowed me to work remotely.

330
00:18:16,176 --> 00:18:21,146
He taught me everything I know
about social media marketing.

331
00:18:21,666 --> 00:18:25,876
And he's currently our client times two.

332
00:18:26,256 --> 00:18:27,656
I'm still working with him.

333
00:18:27,716 --> 00:18:33,986
And, yeah, he's just He's his mantra back
when we worked together at the agency

334
00:18:33,986 --> 00:18:39,896
was stay hungry and stay humble and
I've lived by that and yeah he's great.

335
00:18:40,576 --> 00:18:41,076
That's good.

336
00:18:41,166 --> 00:18:43,746
So you apply that when you
hire people on your staff?

337
00:18:44,666 --> 00:18:47,506
He taught me everything I
know about hiring people.

338
00:18:47,976 --> 00:18:51,406
When he interviewed me, he
asked me some questions.

339
00:18:51,741 --> 00:18:56,411
personal questions rather than
questions about my skills which

340
00:18:56,411 --> 00:18:57,571
I thought was weird at the time.

341
00:18:57,601 --> 00:19:01,231
I was like, he asked me, he said, tell
me about a time when you've struggled.

342
00:19:01,781 --> 00:19:05,411
And I was like, dude, like I'm
a single mom working three jobs,

343
00:19:05,661 --> 00:19:07,251
working under the poverty line.

344
00:19:07,621 --> 00:19:09,481
Yeah, I am struggling.

345
00:19:09,481 --> 00:19:11,151
I'm on the struggle bus right now.

346
00:19:11,641 --> 00:19:15,121
And And every time we hired someone
together, like when I became

347
00:19:15,131 --> 00:19:18,571
manager of social, we usually got
together to do the interviews.

348
00:19:18,841 --> 00:19:20,551
And he would always ask that question.

349
00:19:20,591 --> 00:19:22,011
Tell me about a time
when you've struggled.

350
00:19:22,471 --> 00:19:27,571
And we would hire people
who had an answer for that.

351
00:19:27,886 --> 00:19:30,426
They had struggled and
I do the same thing.

352
00:19:30,426 --> 00:19:32,916
Now, I am always asking that question.

353
00:19:32,946 --> 00:19:34,996
I want to hire people who have struggled.

354
00:19:35,336 --> 00:19:36,166
We work harder.

355
00:19:36,206 --> 00:19:39,246
We appreciate things more
struggle is a great thing.

356
00:19:39,246 --> 00:19:40,986
You learn so much from it.

357
00:19:41,226 --> 00:19:43,026
Yeah, it's not a negative.

358
00:19:43,056 --> 00:19:43,966
It's a positive.

359
00:19:44,256 --> 00:19:46,036
So yeah, I also learned that from him.

360
00:19:46,676 --> 00:19:47,216
Yeah.

361
00:19:47,566 --> 00:19:49,596
And resilience is a good thing, right?

362
00:19:49,646 --> 00:19:53,406
And unless you struggle, you don't
really develop that resilience.

363
00:19:53,871 --> 00:19:58,361
Yes, it's so funny that you mentioned
resilience, because I was at a talk

364
00:19:58,431 --> 00:20:03,711
and it was when I was at Collision,
and it was an older man, an older white

365
00:20:03,711 --> 00:20:09,621
man, who was talking about resilience,
and he said that he had just learned

366
00:20:09,631 --> 00:20:13,461
about the concept of resilience, and
I was just sitting there I'm sorry,

367
00:20:13,731 --> 00:20:15,311
you just learned about this concept?

368
00:20:15,341 --> 00:20:18,071
I've been living this concept for years.

369
00:20:18,121 --> 00:20:21,121
I could teach an entire
course on resilience.

370
00:20:21,541 --> 00:20:25,891
And anyways, it just really blew me
away that it was a brand new concept

371
00:20:25,901 --> 00:20:27,751
to him and he was doing a talk on it.

372
00:20:28,291 --> 00:20:30,091
Yeah, resilience, it's important.

373
00:20:30,091 --> 00:20:33,291
No, I've been at those
conferences or things like that.

374
00:20:33,291 --> 00:20:37,871
I remember attending like an employee
events and this guy that I worked

375
00:20:37,871 --> 00:20:43,071
with we were talking to the head of
DEI and he spent 20 minutes telling

376
00:20:43,071 --> 00:20:48,241
her how hard he had it as a white man
getting promoted and getting raises.

377
00:20:51,741 --> 00:20:52,111
Yes.

378
00:20:52,311 --> 00:20:53,791
There are all kinds of perspectives.

379
00:20:53,791 --> 00:20:55,881
It was a women's event.

380
00:20:56,171 --> 00:20:58,221
He was attending as an ally.

381
00:20:58,876 --> 00:21:03,766
And I'm like, oh, yeah, and

382
00:21:07,026 --> 00:21:08,166
he was making more than me.

383
00:21:08,176 --> 00:21:11,196
And I knew this because at one
point I found a salary list,

384
00:21:11,226 --> 00:21:13,206
which I was never supposed to see.

385
00:21:13,206 --> 00:21:14,536
So that was all entertaining.

386
00:21:16,356 --> 00:21:20,086
But where do you think that,
like, where do you hope to

387
00:21:20,086 --> 00:21:21,566
take social media marketing?

388
00:21:21,566 --> 00:21:26,576
Because social media marketing is
not without controversy these days,

389
00:21:26,616 --> 00:21:29,186
especially with everything that's
happened recently in the States.

390
00:21:29,186 --> 00:21:29,236
Yeah.

391
00:21:29,256 --> 00:21:32,326
So where do you want to take it?

392
00:21:32,326 --> 00:21:34,076
Where are you hopeful of taking it?

393
00:21:35,506 --> 00:21:40,496
I am a big proponent of putting
the social in social media, and

394
00:21:40,496 --> 00:21:44,576
that's why I primarily do, or yeah.

395
00:21:44,891 --> 00:21:48,121
Almost exquisitely work
in organic social media.

396
00:21:48,141 --> 00:21:51,971
So our company does not
do the paid ad campaigns.

397
00:21:52,261 --> 00:21:55,861
There are so many agencies
that do that and so few that

398
00:21:55,861 --> 00:21:57,581
focus on organic social media.

399
00:21:57,581 --> 00:22:00,581
So posting consistently, not paid ads.

400
00:22:00,911 --> 00:22:03,141
And the goal is really
to create engagement.

401
00:22:03,646 --> 00:22:07,716
So getting people to comment, asking
people questions, getting people to share

402
00:22:07,716 --> 00:22:10,956
because they've learned something new that
they think more people should know about.

403
00:22:11,446 --> 00:22:15,086
Those authentic connections, and
being social on social media,

404
00:22:15,126 --> 00:22:18,806
that's what I am all about, and
I've always been all about that.

405
00:22:19,056 --> 00:22:24,646
And I did not know that it would become
a trend, or that the algorithms would

406
00:22:25,086 --> 00:22:30,796
prioritize content that encourages,
conversation authentic connection

407
00:22:31,666 --> 00:22:35,356
when I started doing this, but this
is where social media is going.

408
00:22:35,386 --> 00:22:40,016
It's all about those authentic connections
and being social on social media.

409
00:22:40,026 --> 00:22:43,786
So whether it was smart
or not, I don't know.

410
00:22:43,836 --> 00:22:45,826
It wasn't strategic, but here we are.

411
00:22:46,196 --> 00:22:48,446
This is what I'm really focusing on.

412
00:22:48,576 --> 00:22:50,336
I will continue to focus on this.

413
00:22:50,876 --> 00:22:53,826
Getting in the comments is one of
my favorite thing and answering

414
00:22:53,826 --> 00:22:56,706
people, engaging with people,
finding out what people think.

415
00:22:57,026 --> 00:22:59,696
It's the best kind of
market research you can do.

416
00:22:59,766 --> 00:23:05,266
And, back when we worked together
and at the former company that we

417
00:23:05,266 --> 00:23:10,336
worked at one of the things that I
pioneered was the comment based contest.

418
00:23:10,346 --> 00:23:12,796
And so many people run contests.

419
00:23:13,031 --> 00:23:17,331
That are like, okay, like this,
share it for a chance to win

420
00:23:17,821 --> 00:23:19,241
tag your friend or whatever.

421
00:23:19,301 --> 00:23:20,981
That is the most useless.

422
00:23:22,331 --> 00:23:23,861
Yeah, because you're not
finding anything out.

423
00:23:24,431 --> 00:23:25,831
You're finding out nothing.

424
00:23:25,841 --> 00:23:28,861
You are getting a lot of reach
because people are sharing it.

425
00:23:28,871 --> 00:23:31,531
You're getting a lot of reach because
people are tagging their friends.

426
00:23:31,541 --> 00:23:33,401
Yes, that cannot be denied.

427
00:23:33,791 --> 00:23:36,501
But there's nothing authentic or useful.

428
00:23:37,926 --> 00:23:41,546
People are just going to unfollow
you as soon as your contest is over.

429
00:23:42,796 --> 00:23:47,196
We started running the comment based
contest where you ask a question

430
00:23:47,446 --> 00:23:51,406
that you will learn something about
your followers from that question.

431
00:23:51,906 --> 00:23:57,006
It's something about their preferences
or their habits or whatever it is.

432
00:23:57,006 --> 00:23:58,726
Maybe it's just a fun question.

433
00:23:59,216 --> 00:24:02,416
And every answer in the
comments is an entry.

434
00:24:03,186 --> 00:24:04,886
So we started doing those.

435
00:24:05,466 --> 00:24:10,316
And we were able to organically
grow the following and grow

436
00:24:10,316 --> 00:24:12,746
engagement astronomically.

437
00:24:13,356 --> 00:24:18,316
We had some of those comment based
contest posts that would get 50 percent

438
00:24:18,316 --> 00:24:19,776
engagement, which is unheard of.

439
00:24:19,816 --> 00:24:22,156
The benchmark is between
one and two percent.

440
00:24:22,586 --> 00:24:26,946
So 50 percent of the people who saw
those posts would leave a comment.

441
00:24:27,476 --> 00:24:28,566
Which is just bananas.

442
00:24:28,666 --> 00:24:31,956
It's some of the highest
engagement I've ever seen on a

443
00:24:31,956 --> 00:24:34,176
post and we would learn so much.

444
00:24:34,176 --> 00:24:39,586
You can export the comments at the end
of the contest, put them together, create

445
00:24:39,586 --> 00:24:44,816
a report on what people are saying, we
were asking questions like what is a

446
00:24:44,816 --> 00:24:46,876
service that you wish your bank offered.

447
00:24:47,131 --> 00:24:51,421
That they don't offer currently, or what
would make you switch to a new bank?

448
00:24:51,831 --> 00:24:56,661
Those kinds of questions, we get so
much information from our following.

449
00:24:56,991 --> 00:25:00,071
And all you have to do is give
away some gift card or something.

450
00:25:00,501 --> 00:25:03,561
But we would also ask some fun
questions what's the first thing

451
00:25:03,561 --> 00:25:05,591
you ever bought with your own money?

452
00:25:06,001 --> 00:25:08,951
And just some fun ones to Keep it light.

453
00:25:09,211 --> 00:25:13,431
But yeah, that's smart because you're
really putting it in the context of

454
00:25:13,511 --> 00:25:18,351
people's lives and hopes and desires
and dreams and people like talking

455
00:25:18,351 --> 00:25:22,411
about that kind of stuff, even though
they're helping with that research,

456
00:25:22,411 --> 00:25:24,201
they it doesn't feel like it.

457
00:25:24,481 --> 00:25:27,201
And yeah, so that's, I
remember those contests.

458
00:25:27,201 --> 00:25:28,441
It was always really smart.

459
00:25:29,611 --> 00:25:29,961
Yeah.

460
00:25:29,961 --> 00:25:33,031
And then some of the some
competitors started running them.

461
00:25:33,171 --> 00:25:33,511
Of course.

462
00:25:33,551 --> 00:25:37,741
Similar contests just because we're
having so much success with it.

463
00:25:38,311 --> 00:25:42,111
But yeah, those are the types of
things that we are continuing to do.

464
00:25:42,121 --> 00:25:45,941
We're continuing to stress the
importance of organic social media.

465
00:25:45,981 --> 00:25:46,501
And.

466
00:25:46,701 --> 00:25:51,141
Intentional connections on social
media and keeping growing a community

467
00:25:51,141 --> 00:25:57,051
of loyal fans, an engaged community
online rather than just always selling.

468
00:25:57,081 --> 00:26:00,621
And of course you need your paid
ads to sell your product or service.

469
00:26:00,682 --> 00:26:05,071
But your organic social media is
really meant to create loyal fans

470
00:26:05,141 --> 00:26:06,481
out of your product or service.

471
00:26:06,531 --> 00:26:08,461
And that's where we really shine.

472
00:26:09,771 --> 00:26:10,381
That's cool.

473
00:26:10,741 --> 00:26:12,921
Do you get involved with
employee advocacy at all?

474
00:26:13,561 --> 00:26:14,201
Or you don't?

475
00:26:14,701 --> 00:26:16,091
We have before.

476
00:26:16,101 --> 00:26:16,611
Yeah.

477
00:26:16,711 --> 00:26:17,721
That can be a lot of fun.

478
00:26:17,941 --> 00:26:19,081
It can be a lot of fun.

479
00:26:19,081 --> 00:26:19,291
Yeah.

480
00:26:19,341 --> 00:26:20,501
Yeah, for sure.

481
00:26:20,601 --> 00:26:24,006
You just need to make sure Try
to get everyone on board, make

482
00:26:24,006 --> 00:26:25,596
it fun, make it interesting.

483
00:26:25,946 --> 00:26:29,026
And and it can be super
valuable, especially on LinkedIn.

484
00:26:29,666 --> 00:26:29,966
. Yeah.

485
00:26:30,296 --> 00:26:32,456
And that's always , my area that I love.

486
00:26:32,456 --> 00:26:32,876
Yes.

487
00:26:32,926 --> 00:26:34,546
It's also my favorite
only to top voicemail.

488
00:26:35,596 --> 00:26:36,556
That's awesome.

489
00:26:36,616 --> 00:26:37,396
That's awesome.

490
00:26:37,816 --> 00:26:40,396
But honestly it's from people
like you that I learned.

491
00:26:40,396 --> 00:26:44,776
You're teaching people good habits even
though, really just doing it in the

492
00:26:44,776 --> 00:26:46,516
context of your everyday life, right?

493
00:26:46,586 --> 00:26:48,246
And that's what I think is valuable.

494
00:26:48,246 --> 00:26:53,596
And the fact that you've been able to do
it from where you live without actually

495
00:26:53,596 --> 00:26:57,806
having to compromise, the lifestyle
that you want to move away from your

496
00:26:57,806 --> 00:27:03,536
family to move away from your community,
people can learn so much from that.

497
00:27:04,086 --> 00:27:04,816
Yeah, thank you.

498
00:27:05,436 --> 00:27:06,596
Yeah, it's important to me.

499
00:27:07,016 --> 00:27:08,836
And you speak about that too, right?

500
00:27:08,846 --> 00:27:12,436
Like you're often doing podcasts
and you're actually doing keynotes.

501
00:27:13,546 --> 00:27:14,056
Yeah.

502
00:27:15,166 --> 00:27:15,716
Yeah.

503
00:27:15,756 --> 00:27:21,816
And I would love to to speak more about
my story of, I, I do a lot of speaking

504
00:27:21,816 --> 00:27:26,076
specifically about social media, but, I
would love to try to do some more speaking

505
00:27:26,076 --> 00:27:31,566
about my journey from, poor single mom to
CEO of a marketing agency and having done

506
00:27:31,566 --> 00:27:36,666
this in rural Nova Scotia and, creating
jobs for people in rural Nova Scotia.

507
00:27:37,146 --> 00:27:37,466
Yeah.

508
00:27:37,966 --> 00:27:40,486
Yeah, and Ingrid has
been such a help to me.

509
00:27:40,486 --> 00:27:45,646
I remember talking to you about coaching
and grants and different things that

510
00:27:45,656 --> 00:27:49,376
you've actually put your name forward
through is there a government programs

511
00:27:49,376 --> 00:27:53,546
that will support entrepreneurs and to
so she's answered a lot of questions.

512
00:27:54,046 --> 00:27:55,366
I did start up Canada.

513
00:27:55,366 --> 00:27:57,326
I think I talked to you
about that at that time.

514
00:27:57,336 --> 00:27:57,886
Okay.

515
00:27:58,496 --> 00:27:58,866
Yeah.

516
00:27:58,867 --> 00:27:59,586
Yeah.

517
00:27:59,586 --> 00:28:01,416
So she's a really great resource.

518
00:28:01,416 --> 00:28:04,376
And she's 1 of the most approachable
people I've ever actually come

519
00:28:04,376 --> 00:28:05,946
across in social media as well.

520
00:28:05,956 --> 00:28:08,216
This is my way of giving back to her.

521
00:28:08,216 --> 00:28:08,716
This is.

522
00:28:08,816 --> 00:28:12,656
Sometimes why I do podcast episodes
is like the people that have been

523
00:28:12,656 --> 00:28:16,856
supportive to me is like, how can I
amplify your story and give back in a way?

524
00:28:16,856 --> 00:28:18,546
And, maybe five people watch it.

525
00:28:18,546 --> 00:28:19,066
I'm not sure.

526
00:28:19,066 --> 00:28:22,266
You never know who's going to
pay attention, but this has

527
00:28:22,266 --> 00:28:25,891
always been my goal is how can
I thank you for inspiring me?

528
00:28:25,991 --> 00:28:27,471
So that's my question.

529
00:28:28,121 --> 00:28:29,321
That's the answer to my question.

530
00:28:29,421 --> 00:28:32,381
I told her before we started, the
person who actually captured my interest

531
00:28:32,381 --> 00:28:37,071
initially with social media was this
woman who ran my doggy daycare because

532
00:28:37,071 --> 00:28:40,941
she did the same thing of building
community and authentic connection.

533
00:28:41,331 --> 00:28:44,381
Like she would throw birthday
parties for the dogs and people would

534
00:28:44,381 --> 00:28:48,011
bring special dog cookies and she
would write about it on Instagram

535
00:28:48,011 --> 00:28:49,211
and it was just the best thing.

536
00:28:49,681 --> 00:28:54,151
And Between her and Ingrid that's
where I've learned a lot about

537
00:28:54,191 --> 00:28:59,681
authentic media connection and
yeah, anyways, that, that was part

538
00:28:59,681 --> 00:29:01,451
of the goal of doing this episode.

539
00:29:02,111 --> 00:29:04,441
Is there anything that you wanted
to talk about that we haven't?

540
00:29:04,941 --> 00:29:05,941
I don't think so.

541
00:29:07,661 --> 00:29:08,131
We're great.

542
00:29:08,151 --> 00:29:11,851
I'm just so honored to be here
and to chat with you again.

543
00:29:11,851 --> 00:29:15,731
It's been a while since we've
been face to face and, It has.

544
00:29:15,771 --> 00:29:19,081
Actually, I think we did a
phone call our one time that

545
00:29:19,091 --> 00:29:20,551
we actually did a phone call.

546
00:29:20,581 --> 00:29:22,701
We were rocking it old school back then.

547
00:29:22,751 --> 00:29:24,661
Who didn't scream?

548
00:29:24,662 --> 00:29:25,802
Yeah, exactly.

549
00:29:25,842 --> 00:29:29,002
But it's so cool to watch your growth.

550
00:29:29,592 --> 00:29:34,342
And your positioning yourself as
a thought leader in remote work

551
00:29:34,442 --> 00:29:37,952
just so cool to watch you and I'm
always cheering you on LinkedIn.

552
00:29:38,362 --> 00:29:42,242
Yeah, I that the most important thing
that I did this year, honestly, was

553
00:29:42,242 --> 00:29:46,422
the McLean's magazine interview,
and I did a TikTok for them, and

554
00:29:46,422 --> 00:29:49,972
then, of course, Canada decided to
shut down TikTok, so there's that.

555
00:29:50,032 --> 00:29:51,332
Oh, yeah.

556
00:29:52,102 --> 00:29:53,322
That's a whole other topic.

557
00:29:54,172 --> 00:30:00,792
Yeah, I know, but it's been such a journey
learning all of that kind of stuff and

558
00:30:00,822 --> 00:30:02,812
pivoting from what I did before, right?

559
00:30:02,842 --> 00:30:05,132
And it's because people share.

560
00:30:05,422 --> 00:30:10,292
So generously online that I've been
able to do it because I, I sometimes

561
00:30:10,292 --> 00:30:13,662
do tell people that part of the reason
I started the podcast was because

562
00:30:13,662 --> 00:30:17,092
smart people will actually come and
talk to me for free for an hour.

563
00:30:18,562 --> 00:30:19,132
So smart.

564
00:30:20,352 --> 00:30:23,532
And I love to amplify their
stories, but it's also about

565
00:30:23,582 --> 00:30:25,062
what it does for me as well too.

566
00:30:25,062 --> 00:30:25,942
And that's.

567
00:30:27,092 --> 00:30:30,682
Another part of my podcast that I don't
necessarily advertise, but it's true.

568
00:30:31,692 --> 00:30:32,742
Yeah, that's awesome.

569
00:30:34,352 --> 00:30:37,292
So you've been in business, what,
it's six years, is it five years?

570
00:30:37,402 --> 00:30:38,562
Five, five, yep.

571
00:30:39,027 --> 00:30:43,347
Yeah, that is so cool, because
honestly, I met you right at the

572
00:30:43,347 --> 00:30:46,937
beginning of your journey and to see
you get to the point where you're

573
00:30:46,967 --> 00:30:53,127
like winning awards or nominated for
awards in entrepreneurship it's just

574
00:30:53,237 --> 00:30:54,937
fabulous to see how you developed it.

575
00:30:55,497 --> 00:30:56,927
Where do you want to go?

576
00:30:57,427 --> 00:31:00,247
What, do you have a big
hairy audacious goal?

577
00:31:00,797 --> 00:31:02,727
We're looking at exporting right now.

578
00:31:02,727 --> 00:31:04,597
All of our clients are across Canada.

579
00:31:04,617 --> 00:31:10,807
So I've been to Atlanta twice this
year to meet some folks and try

580
00:31:10,807 --> 00:31:13,797
to learn more about the U S market
to see if we can break in there.

581
00:31:13,807 --> 00:31:16,887
I know it's a pretty saturated
market when it comes to social media.

582
00:31:17,337 --> 00:31:18,657
But I think there's.

583
00:31:19,177 --> 00:31:23,547
There's room for us in there and
also looking at other markets

584
00:31:23,557 --> 00:31:27,207
internationally just to see,
Canada's big, we could definitely

585
00:31:27,207 --> 00:31:29,777
keep playing in the Canadian pond.

586
00:31:29,807 --> 00:31:34,057
But yeah, it's just interesting to
see what exists outside of Canada.

587
00:31:34,117 --> 00:31:36,147
And I always love a new challenge.

588
00:31:36,147 --> 00:31:39,727
So that's one of the things
that we're doing right now.

589
00:31:39,827 --> 00:31:41,777
And just, growing the business.

590
00:31:43,092 --> 00:31:46,812
creating more jobs, bringing in some
new clients figuring things out,

591
00:31:49,332 --> 00:31:50,622
trying to figure this thing out.

592
00:31:51,582 --> 00:31:51,892
Yeah.

593
00:31:51,892 --> 00:31:52,492
That's cool.

594
00:31:52,792 --> 00:31:53,042
Yeah.

595
00:31:53,042 --> 00:31:56,352
It's always interesting when I look
at my, like my podcast audience,

596
00:31:56,352 --> 00:31:59,702
cause people often ask me like where
my audience mostly is, and it's

597
00:31:59,702 --> 00:32:01,592
Canada and the U S which makes sense.

598
00:32:01,912 --> 00:32:04,122
But at the moment I'm on the top
I've been on the top of the charts

599
00:32:04,122 --> 00:32:06,762
in Romania and I'm like why Romania?

600
00:32:06,912 --> 00:32:08,472
What is it about Romania?

601
00:32:09,152 --> 00:32:10,662
Oh my gosh, that's wild.

602
00:32:10,832 --> 00:32:11,232
I know.

603
00:32:11,232 --> 00:32:12,802
You have to plan a trip.

604
00:32:13,292 --> 00:32:13,822
I know.

605
00:32:13,902 --> 00:32:15,142
Yeah, I have no idea.

606
00:32:15,152 --> 00:32:19,132
So it's interesting to see what
resonates with people and what

607
00:32:19,132 --> 00:32:21,362
really, what magic you can create.

608
00:32:21,402 --> 00:32:22,552
Yeah, that's cool.

609
00:32:23,592 --> 00:32:24,382
All right.

610
00:32:24,442 --> 00:32:26,502
Thank you so much for
making the time to do this.

611
00:32:26,542 --> 00:32:31,372
I really, as I said I've appreciated
all your support over the years and I,

612
00:32:31,422 --> 00:32:34,892
I wish you all the best in the future
and your team, of course, too, because

613
00:32:34,992 --> 00:32:41,802
creating jobs in rural Canada, especially
in an industry that is not traditional

614
00:32:42,042 --> 00:32:46,242
takes a lot of work and I don't know
that people necessarily understand that.

615
00:32:47,092 --> 00:32:50,372
Without any reliable Internet
I started my career at Rogers.

616
00:32:51,822 --> 00:32:55,412
Okay, it has not changed all that much.

617
00:32:55,762 --> 00:32:59,522
That's 1 of the things that
I really think the future.

618
00:32:59,852 --> 00:33:03,832
Of working Canada really needs
to resolve because yes, it's

619
00:33:03,832 --> 00:33:05,932
holding us back quite frankly.

620
00:33:05,932 --> 00:33:06,792
It certainly is.

621
00:33:06,852 --> 00:33:07,312
Yeah.

622
00:33:07,382 --> 00:33:10,762
It's, you could work from anywhere
if you had a reliable Internet

623
00:33:10,762 --> 00:33:12,782
connection, it's super important.

624
00:33:12,852 --> 00:33:16,102
And yeah, it's absolutely
my pleasure to be here.

625
00:33:16,212 --> 00:33:20,092
And I'm so thankful that
you had me on your show.

626
00:33:20,812 --> 00:33:20,882
Awesome.

627
00:33:21,172 --> 00:33:21,702
Thank you.

628
00:33:22,342 --> 00:33:26,692
Here we go.

629
00:33:26,692 --> 00:33:33,942
One, two, three, four, five.

630
00:33:33,942 --> 00:33:39,741
Watch yourself in orbit.