Rev & Reach Episode 5 Transcript

00:08

LORI: Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of Rev and Reach. I’m Lori Jo Vest. I am the partner and co-founder of PopSpeed Digital Marketing, LLC. I’m here with Kiley Metcalf. Kiley was our first employee besides my husband and I with our little agency here.

And today we want to talk about why we love social media. As if you needed to hear it. It’s getting such a bad rap and I hate it. It drives me absolutely nuts. Because, yes, I think there are a lot of things about social that are kind of ick, but I think you can curate your own experience to make it something wonderful. And it also can be used to do amazing things, and we’re going to tell you about a few of those today too. So say hi, Kiley.

KILEY: Hi everybody. Happy to be back!

LORI: Yeah, we’re excited to start. And Kiley, you ideated this episode and you were talking about our kidney clients, so let’s talk a little bit about that.

KILEY: So I want to say it’s been over two years now. You might have to fact-check me on that, but it’s been a couple of years since we were contacted kind of randomly, kind of out of the blue by somebody who was looking for some assistance. She needed a new kidney, a living kidney donor, and wanted to use social media to find someone. Find somebody willing to get tested, go through the process and donate their kidney to her. And since then we’ve come on at no charge to her, just something that felt really important to us and a really special thing as a team that we could be involved with.

And ever since then we’ve been working on finding her a living kidney donor. And somewhere along the way, we found out that somebody in our network, their husband was in a similar situation, needed a living kidney donor and his situation was a bit more urgent than the original woman that we’re still working with. And so he needed one a bit faster. And with social media and the creation of a website and a place to send people that needed more information, we found him a living kidney donor and now he’s happy and healthy and living life. And it’s just, I mean, it’s crazy. It’s really crazy. 

02:42

But it’s something that I think goes a long way in showing that social media works and the impact that social media can have, not just on building connection and making friends because I know Lori can really speak to that, like with our LinkedIn community, but on saving lives too.

And it’s something that we’ve been so happy to be a part of. We’ve worked with some—I’m sure we’ll touch on them—with some other non-profit clients that we’ve worked for for free and achieved some really great things and been involved in some really great missions that are important to us and we think have really made a difference.

And honestly, in a lot of ways, those are our favorite to work with because it not only is why we love social media, but with corporate America and working in the business realm sometimes it feels—I’m sure many people can relate to this in similar situations—sometimes it feels just all about making money. So to be able to use social media and digital marketing as a tool to really impact people’s lives has been really special to our team.

03:54

LORI: Yeah, it’s huge. It’s absolutely huge. I’ll never forget getting that first call and it was actually Jo’s mother. Jo is the woman, I think it’s hero4jo.com and she has been- she knew she was going to need a kidney so we started working with her and I don’t know what it was, but when I first heard about the situation I was like we need to do this and we just need to do it.

And so we did and we took it on as a client. Not just here’s some stuff but we took her on as a client with a monthly status call and all the things that go with that. And as we got ramped up with her social and her website, one of our good friends that Kiley mentioned called me and she was going to have to do his, what do they call that process they do with-

KILEY: Dialysis? 

LORI: Dialysis, yeah, where they cleanse the blood, that kind of thing at home. So she was going to be his person doing his dialysis and she was getting trained. And I said well guess what, it’s a really weird coincidence. But we’re doing this kidney recruitment, living kidney donor recruitment thing. Join us. And, so, she’s a marketer too. She jumped on with us and we just bounced things around. We worked together and we exchanged assets, we did all kinds of things. Bob, her husband is two years anniversary with his new kidney, I think, just this spring. 

And Jo is to the point where she needs her living kidney donor now, and she has six people that they know about that have gone to the hospital to be tested in the last couple months. So the hospital doesn’t tell you. They’ve had 15 people, they’ve heard that they won’t tell you anything, if people are testing, that’s just their policy. And her mom, Jo’s mom said that six people told them. So they don’t know if there are more that didn’t tell them. So it’s just a really great way to, I think, get into the real positive aspects of social media and use our powers for good. Right? 

KILEY: Yeah, yeah. 

LORI: I mean, seriously. We have a client that we support in Michigan that has a literacy program for boys, black and brown boys three to seven and their families. It’s absolutely amazing. And we’re helping them raise money. So there’s these things that we do, and I highly recommend if you’re a business owner, always have, you know, at least one non-profit fundraising type, you know, give back to the community initiative on your books, no matter what you do. Because it’s good for your team, it’s good for your energy. I really think I tell people where we just do it because we want to pave our way to heaven. You know, we just want the karma that comes back. But there is more to it than that. There’s the, you know, the warm and fuzzy feelings, and the learning. I know so much more about kidney donation than I ever needed to know.

KILEY: Right, right.

LORI: And those skills that we learn and the things that we pick up and the ideas that come through inevitably create something larger down the line. You know, we’re learning things, we’re creating things, we’re enjoying it. You just don’t know where it’s going to lead to, honestly. I mean, that’s part of it. 

07:15

So, let’s talk about why we love social media, beyond how good it can be. What is it about social media that you love, Kiley?

KILEY: Well, I think it’s a great place for connection. You know, I know that we- I know, Lori, you have so many stories of people that you’ve met through LinkedIn that have become like good friends of yours and stuff in real life. I think, you know, the way that social media started- I remember creating my Facebook account and, oh my gosh, I think I was in seventh grade maybe. And oh, all my friends are here and oh, like, you know, my family, my older relatives are here and you know, it was created out of like a necessity to be more connected to the people that you care about. And I think that obviously in the last couple of decades, it’s taken a completely new form.

And, you know, the way that I view it now, working in social media is entirely different on a daily basis. You’ll find if you go to  my personal social media pages, I am not very active on them, which is so funny because I’m, you know, I’m- I live on them every single day. And I log off and I’m just not there. And it’s, it’s weird. But I think that, I think that at its core, the power of social media is good. I know, as Lori said there’s so many ways and obviously so many negatives, I guess, that have taken form since it’s continued to just absolutely skyrocket and take over the world.

But, you know, these kidney donation clients are a great example of, you know, just word of mouth, spreading the word about causes and how much of a difference it can make or, you know, making new friends and, you know, being in a community of people online that you would never be introduced to in the real world because they’re across the country or in a different country or because sometimes we just feel inherently more comfortable sharing things online than we do with people face to face. And, you know, whether, I’m sure there’s arguments that can be made on whether or not that’s a positive or a negative, but that’s the reality of our world right now, regardless of whether it’s positive or negative.

And, you know, so you learn things about people or know that you’re not alone in a certain situation. I think a good example for me is I’m currently pregnant with my first child and being able to search things on social media to find out, oh my God, is this normal? Or, oh, has anybody experienced this? And, you know, things like that can be really helpful.

LORI: Yeah. Absolutely.

KILEY: Yeah. So it’s- I think it’s really good at creating community and creating connection when you allow it. It’s possible to, you know, take that toxic turn. But I think that when you’re in control of the content that you’re seeing and, you know, you’re really able to kind of hone in on what it is that’s important to you, all of those benefits really come to the surface.

10:26

LORI: Yeah, I think so, too. I know that some examples that you mentioned earlier would, I’m sure, also show up in groups.

KILEY: Yeah, absolutely. 

When I had, I went through a breast cancer experience. Yay me. And there was a group of women that had the exact same type of aggressive cancer I had. And these two nurse oncologists ran the group. And this was on Facebook, and everybody in the group had this particular type.

And we could talk to each other and ask questions and support each other and, you know, you’d get scared and then somebody would come in that said, yeah, I’m a 10-year survivor and you’d be okay again. And, you know, I mean, so that’s pretty deep. I mean, that kind of thing is deep.

And you look at- I do mentoring for Imerman’s Angels out of Chicago, which connects survivors to patients just getting diagnosed too. And the first thing we do is connect on Facebook and then I can send rah rah notes. I can say, how you doing? And when they go to treatment and come home and it went okay, I can say yay, I see you. You know, over here cheering you on. So there’s, there’s so many things you can do at that very deep level on social media that we didn’t have as easy access to previously. So that’s another thing.

And that the amount of people that you can connect with that are like-minded. I know over on LinkedIn, we have so many people that we follow in the social media space that are just hilarious. They get it. We feel seen. It feels like a support group when I go over there sometimes. And just to know, again, that you’re not alone in the weirdness of your career choice can be really helpful. 

12:12

So we just wanted to jump on here today, talk about the positive aspects and the positive ways that people use social media. It’s not just a cesspool. If you don’t want to go on Facebook and see a bunch of negative politics or Instagram, unfollow those people, disconnect from those people, curate your feed so that it shows you what you want to see.

And if there’s ads showing up that you don’t want to see, report those or, you know, say, don’t show me these anymore. You know, click those buttons that let you do that. Because it is possible to have a really positive experience on social media on just about all channels. 

And there are times when I am just, you know, sitting on the sofa. Maybe I didn’t have a great day that day. And I’m on reels on Instagram. And I am just cracking up to the point where my husband’s like, what are you looking at? You know, because there’s so much great humor out there too. Right? So Kiley, bring us home.

13:08

KILEY: I think actually—it might take us into a new conversation, so I’m sorry—but I think you just made two key points that are another really, really interesting thing to touch on here. LinkedIn, for example, it’s the professional social media network and it’s all business, all the time.

But if you really take a look at some of the features that LinkedIn has, job postings, getting connected with high-level executives in an industry that you’re interested in looking for work. I can’t even- I know that the job market during, you know, the thick and the height of COVID when a lot of us were being laid off or losing our jobs, it wasn’t a great job market.

But imagine if LinkedIn wasn’t a resource during that time or, you know, if you couldn’t search, you know, nowhere near me is hiring, but I need remote work and somebody’s hiring remote. You’d never find opportunities like that if it weren’t for a platform like LinkedIn, which obviously is totally different than a Facebook or Instagram where you’re more likely keeping up with loved ones or friends.

But that also is just such an important asset to have in your everyday life, particularly during a job search or when you’re looking to advance in your career. And it takes a lot of the guesswork and the stress out of it. Right? Because you can directly interact with the HR team or, you know, depending on your experience level, the CEO, whoever you’d be interacting with. And I think that’s such an overlooked great asset of social media. 

14:38

And then the other one’s YouTube. 

LORI: I love YouTube. 

KILEY: I swear I could talk forever about YouTube. My husband’s go-to quote lately is that you can learn anything on YouTube. And I- he’s so right.

Like we, for example, we got a new two-person board game a couple months ago and I was sitting there reading the directions, trying to figure it out and it was just going so over my head like I do not understand how to do this. And so we went to YouTube to, you know, learn how to play this game. Made so much more sense than reading the directions.

We, you know, we watch YouTube videos as a part of our regular like, oh, what do we want to watch tonight? Oh, let’s see what’s on YouTube. So even for entertainment and learning and education. There really is a channel that does everything that you need it to right at your fingertips, which I think is really cool.

15:38

LORI: Yeah, it’s kind of awesome. We had just a side story- we had an air conditioning for a long time in our house that my husband actually got much joy from keeping this early 1970s era AC unit running. And the way he did it was YouTube. There were people out there that had this exact one. Oh, yeah, ants can get in there and do this. So when the ants get in there, you do this, this and this. And he’s like out there with his phone looking at it. And he kept that thing running until we finally decided we needed to be more energy efficient, you know, and had to replace it.

But it’s just, it’s amazing what you can find. Somebody out there has recorded a video about whatever topic you happen to be thinking about at the moment. I guarantee it. It’s absolutely insane. And it’s fun, you know, there’s so many fun things to do. And again, that’s not the one reason we might not love social media so much, is how addictive it can be. That’s the part that- that’s the downside. It does require you to exercise some self-control.

KILEY: Absolutely.

LORI: Yeah. But that’s what we’ve got for you today. We’d love to hear from you. If you have ideas you’d like us to cover or specific questions you’d like to ask, reach out to me or Kiley on LinkedIn. We’re both open networkers there. We also have a website at popspeeddigital.com. Again, I’m Lori Jo Vest, this is Kiley Metcalfe signing off and we will see you soon.

KILEY: Bye, everybody.