Our first guest duo to the Pay Off Podcast was introduced to us by one of our previous guests, Hayley Saddington. 

Diane Markovski along with her business partner Paula Rigos have extensive experience in the advertising and media space. Diane founded Lit Agency in 2015 and she and Paula have recently been working on an automation tool for social media influencer marketing campaigns.

Shaping your own path

Diane entered the media industry 17 years ago, fresh-faced and just out of university, and immediately took her first job offer at FPC magazines. Here, Diane met Paula, which was the start of their long-lasting friendship. 

After a number of exciting roles in the media space, Diane’s goal was to use the skills she had developed in her extensive media career, and shape her own path. When Di became a mum, she took her drive and passion to do her own thing and made it a reality. Down the track, Diane and Paula discussed a shared vision to automate clunky processes for client campaigns, Paula joined Diana as her business partner, and Shout Social Pages was born.

Becoming their ‘own boss’ allowed our guests the freedom to innovate and shape their business processes. Di and Paula decided to create a platform which could service brands and businesses with influencer marketing campaigns, without having to do the traditional, time-consuming admin work. Shout Social Pages is a self-service social media influencer platform where brands can advertise their campaign to a directory of influencers, who can pitch their brief and take on the campaign. The main aim is to provide opportunities for micro-influencers and small businesses alike.

Embracing digital and social media

Both ladies agreed that the biggest change they’ve experienced in the media industry has been the shift from print to digital media. 15 years ago, they saw a decline in publishing and knew they would have to adapt to a changing world in order to survive.

Paula explained the benefits of the landscape that digital has created. Digital means flexibility; changes can be fixed easily; content can be produced quicker, cheaply and in a more environmentally friendly manner. Digital and social media have expanded the ability to reach a wider and more targeted audience than print ever could.

The power of data

When we asked Di for suggestions on tools to manage marketing campaigns, she stressed that being able to manage and analyse your data is key to success. Setting out your objectives for a campaign, ensuring you know how to measure success, and tracking that success in a central spot allows you to learn and adapt for future campaigns. Once you have access to customer data, don’t just let it sit dormant. Use it to power and tailor future campaigns, to find and target new leads, and even drive up-sells for existing customers.

The world is always changing. Recently in these unprecedented times, businesses have been adapting and embracing the digital world and social media more than ever. With many more people working from home, now is the time to find opportunities amidst challenges, and embrace social media for customer acquisition.