Big Things Podcast

In the age of social media and instant gratification, working in a creative field can sometimes get frustrating when our success is not immediate. It’s easy to forget that building a craft and skill takes time, and there’s no way of getting around that. Putting in the hours will always pay dividends and our guest today, Viktor Radics is a shining example of this. As a self-taught photographer, Viktor felt a rush and a deep sense of joy when he first started taking photographs. While his journey began casually, shooting photos of friends and music gigs, the intention was always there to have photography be a fundamental part of his life. Nearly 15 years passed between him picking up his first camera to working with an agency, and then recently going freelance. Viktor starts the discussion by sharing more about his photography journey and the various meandering paths it has taken. He also discusses how the lifestyle photography he specializes in is used in marketing.

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in May 2020, protests against police brutality and racial injustice broke out across the US. In response, many of the world’s biggest brands issued statements of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and, while the sentiment was all good and well, many people have called these companies out for making generic statements that ring hollow. Today’s guests are Melanie Trottier and Leah Sookoo, resident Social Media Lead and Creative Copywriter respectively at Arcade Studios. This episode will hopefully serve as a guide for brands and companies to show their support for Black and marginalized communities in real, actionable ways, rather than putting out statements of support that ring hollow. Tuning in, you’ll hear about the importance of the language that you use from Leah, and how she saw brands either detract from or contribute to the discourse around racial injustice in 2020. She also talks about the dangers of virtue signalling, gaslighting, and staying silent, and shares her advice for starting from a place of humility, being well versed in the issues you’re addressing, and never being afraid to vocalize your values. Melanie shares her perspective as a brand manager and talks about the importance of being specific about the issues that affect your customers. She also emphasizes why racial equality should be part of every company’s brand pillars, vision, and mission, highlights the importance of being available for queries on social media, and advises brands to include more diverse voices in their social media marketing and hire a professional to manage it. All this and so much more in today’s important episode, so make sure not to miss it!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Melanie shares who she is and what her role at Arcade as social media lead entails.
• Learn more about Leah’s background and her role as the resident copywriter at Arcade.
• Why a lot of marketing ultimately comes down to communication and language.
• Leah talks about her side hustle: writing about fashion and sustainability, writing poetry.
• How the work Melanie does outside of her nine-to-five revolves around social media too.
• Melanie shares her perspective as a brand manager on how brands responded to the killing of George Floyd.
• How Leah saw people detract from or contribute to discourse in the digital response to BLM.
• How both virtue signalling and silence are problematic; what are you actually doing?
• Your audience is observant and they remember what you promised to do as a brand.
• Having the opportunity as an agency to be a leader and demand action from brands before helping them with their messaging.
• The importance of being specific about how an issue affects your customers.
• While many of Melanie’s clients wanted to be told what to do, there is no magic answer.
• Though it was not an easy or comfortable process, Leah believes it was a productive one.
• Why racial equality should be part of every company’s brand pillars, vision, and mission.
• Looking back and learning from how brands responded in 2020 as a freelancer or marketer.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Melani

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

Today’s guest is Alicia Johnston, Senior Manager of Content and Communications at Sprout Social, an exciting social media software company that enables brands and marketers to understand and reach their audience, engage their community, and measure performance. Alicia is the driving force behind all of the content on the Sprout Insights blog, covering the latest trends and guiding their data reports with a keen eye for spotting emerging trends in the digital space. This episode hinges on these emerging trends for 2021, and Alicia has some incredible insight into not just the practical side of social marketing and what is coming in the year ahead but also an important emotional perspective.

One of the things that stands out about this interview is Alicia’s three-pronged approach to customer service, which entails understanding your role in creating an amazing customer experience, especially when it comes to social media. Tuning in, you’ll find out why Alicia believes that social media insights should be a huge determining factor in business objectives and decisions and the positive impact that regular check-ins can have on the mental health of social marketers after such a tumultuous year. She also shares her advice for small businesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs to build brand awareness and be part of the conversation, even without a team to turn to, and how brands can put diversity and empathy into action on social in strategic ways in 2021. Tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Discover a bit more about Alicia’s career journey and how she got to where she is today.
• More about Sprout software and the role social plays in moving a business forward.
• Alicia explains how you can use social listening to inform your broader business strategy.
• Why influencers in all their forms are critical right now when everyone is working remotely.
• The value of content marketing for software companies and brands in the digital space.
• Examples of what smaller businesses can do with data to build brand awareness.
• Highlights from the most recent Sprout Social Index, including increased expectations for customer service through social media.
• Brands and TikTok; you don’t need a presence to stay informed about the trends!
• Alicia’s three-pronged approach to customer service: preemptive, reactive, and proactive.
• What social marketers can do better, including building what Alicia calls ‘cyclical loyalty’.
• The benefits of strategic silence versus ‘going dark’ when it comes to crisis communications.
• Why Alicia believes starting with curiosity is crucial when looking to enter the conversation.
• Advice for freelancers and solopreneurs who don’t have a team to turn to: be transparent.
• A key takeaway from 2020: why social media managers and teams need to be critical players in business decision making.
• The difficult but necessary conversations about the mental health of social media teams.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Alicia Johnston on LinkedIn

Alicia Johnston on Twitter

Sprout Social

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

Influencer marketing thrived in 2020. Lockdowns led to increased social media usage and drastic changes in consumer behavior, and brands needed to pivot quickly to adapt. With an ever-increasing number of brands choosing independent content creators over traditional advertising, influencers need to know more than ever how to navigate this space and make money doing it. Today’s guest is Tanisha Cherry, a Black fashion, lifestyle, and travel influencer from Canada with over 16,000 supporters on Instagram. She loves to share helpful information with others and has worked with brands such as Captain Morgan, Strongbow, La Vie en Rose, Farmacy, and more that you will hear about during the course of today’s episode. The content of this interview is pretty specific to influencer marketing, but you will find it relevant whether you are a solopreneur, freelancer, or anything in between. Tanisha is an outspoken advocate for influencers actually getting paid for the work that they do and she has an intimate understanding of why influencer marketing is important for brands, how brands are capitalizing on these partnerships, and, most importantly, how influencers can negotiate and leverage these relationships to their benefit. Tanisha shares a lot of practical insight into determining your rates, coordinating gifting campaigns, and getting gigs, as well as tracking the brands you want to work with and creating strategic content, so make sure to tune in today to learn more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Tanisha’s journey to becoming a content creator, starting with her love for social media.
• How 2020 changed her relationship with social media and the content she was producing.
• Find out how the pandemic inspired fewer filters and more vulnerability on social media.
• Hear Tanisha’s opinion of Clubhouse and how she has used it to educate other influencers.
• Learn about some of her first brand partnerships and hear her advice for ensuring that you are fairly compensated.
• Why she believes that unpaid brand partnerships are not fair exchanges or opportunities.
• How she deals with gifted campaigns by sending back her rates.
• Let’s talk about rates; Tanisha explains how influencers can charge what they are worth.
• Brands will take advantage of the fact that influencers don’t have insight into the marketing business, so educate yourself!
• Other factors to consider when deciding to engage in a brand partnership, such as their expectations and target audience.
• The value of communicating to a brand whether their product is a good fit with your audience.
• Why it is important for brands to curate their visual aesthetic before approaching an influencer.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Tanisha Cherry on LinkedIn

Tanisha Cherry on Instagram

Tanisha Cherry on YouTube

Tanisha Cherry on Twitter

Tanisha Cherry on Pinterest

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

Seeing double? Sea la vie? This week we’re diving into the 2025 Pinterest Predicts report, what we’re reading, thoughts around the potential TikTok ban, Fourth Wing (dragon monogamy?), and more.
More from us:

• Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
• Mike Payne @mmmiiike

Timestamps:

• 00:30 – This week’s Big Things!
• 03:00 – What we’ve been reading (spoiler alert: dragon mates).
• 08:30 – Big Thing 1: Pinterest Predicts 2024 is out! These are some of our favorite trends.
• 16:00 – The matching trends and why people are coordinating outfits.
• 18:00 – We have mixed thoughts on the 2025 color of the year...
• 25:30 – Big Thing 2: The TikTok ban is back on the table; here’s what we know & what we recommend if the ban goes through.
• 34:00 – Big Thing 3: The WNBA was one of the fastest rising brands of 2024.
• 44:50 – Alex Cooper’s first product had a cool launch (hydration drinks targeted at women).

Show notes:

• Pinterest Predicts report: https://business.pinterest.com/en-ca/pinterest-predicts/2025/cherry-coded/
• The SCAN 👀 CLUB Gift Guide: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/gift-guide-what-people-want-for-the
• The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2024 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2024
• Easy Reads podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/easy-reads/id1728312993
• [book] The Sword of Kaigen: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41886271-the-sword-of-kaigen

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.