Social Media
I’ve been fortunate enough to build a number of popular social accounts over my career, relying on a set of strategic principles to engage audiences and build communities. The trick is to be a good community member and always deliver something of legitimate value to the audience. When that happens, social media can still facilitate meaningful connections between people and brands.
Toronto Metropolitan University
TMU’s social strategy is distinguished by its responsiveness, attention to contemporary trends, and commitment to service-based brand journalism. With audiences segmented across each channel – TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter – content is variously optimized for students, alumni, and industry stakeholders.
This approach has been a particular hit with students, who appreciate the approachability of content delivered by their peers in relatable terms. The university boasts the most popular TikTok account in the Canadian higher education sector and is typically among the top three schools for total engagement on Instagram.
Scope of work: Director of Content and Creative
blogTO
When I joined blogTO, the publication was approaching 10K followers on Twitter. There was a Facebook group, but no page to post regular content. Instagram was still years to come.
Everything was built from the ground up through early adoption, experimentation, and a commitment to measure every tactic and post idea. During my tenure, the publication reached over 300K followers on each of these channels as it set the terms for how media brands can implement an integrated content strategy.
Scope of work: Editor-in-Chief, Content Strategy
Streets of Toronto
When I began doing content strategy consulting work with Post City Magazines, the first major action-item was to address the publication’s lack of a major social media presence. The print and web properties had so much great content but no real vehicle for distribution.
Enter Streets of Toronto, a local social media startup that lacked a web publishing arm. Each brand was missing precisely what the other possessed in spades, so they were the perfect match for a merger. From there, the web properties and newsletters were rebranded and an integrated content strategy was developed to maximize engagement across all channels.
Scope of work: Content Strategy, Acquisition Analysis
Motel Register
Part art project, part architectural archive, Motel Register documents the stubborn remnants of the midcentury roadside, from still-flickering neon signs to lonely wood-panelled rooms.
What started as a Tumblr blog that tracked the improbable endurance of the motel in modern film, literature and photography, eventually morphed into a platform to promote up-and-coming photographers, reconsider North American narratives of free mobility, and share my own photographic endeavours.
Like every encyclopedia, it remains open, ongoing, and forever incomplete.
Scope of work: Founder
