We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Clio De la Llave a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Clio , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later
I established my business shortly after completing my college education in the field of communications. Initially, I aspired to work for a leading advertising agency in Vancouver. However, following my internship at one of the largest agencies, I realized that the corporate environment did not align with my professional aspirations. It was during this time that I was struck with the entrepreneurial bug and decided to start my own venture.
Recognizing a gap in the social media industry, I seized the opportunity to establish myself as an expert in this emerging field. As one of the early entrants in this space, I was able to establish a unique competitive advantage by charting my own course. Although I often questioned whether I started my business too early, the outcome proved otherwise.
Given my lack of corporate or agency experience, I had to devote considerable time to learning the ins and outs of business operations and developing efficient systems. If I had had more experience under my belt, I would have had a better understanding of the holistic view and varied components of running a successful business. This path took longer, but I also view it as a competitive advantage as we do things a bit differently at Booje Media!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Upon completion of my college education, I identified a personal aspiration to venture into entrepreneurship. While the origin of this desire remains uncertain, I embarked on a search for an opportunity where I could fulfill a market need. During this time, I noticed that in 2009, social media was not widely utilized by businesses. Following a video presentation by Gary V, I was struck by his remark to “follow where the eyeballs go,” in reference to the shift in consumer viewing habits from television to portable electronic devices such as laptops and smartphones. This insight led me to recognize the potential for businesses to engage their audiences through social media, with opportunities that ranged from building communities to receiving customer feedback and promoting brand messaging on a platform where people spent a significant amount of their time.
In 2009, Booje Media was established, and we have since navigated the dynamic digital marketing landscape, evolving alongside the industry and expanding our service offerings beyond social media strategy and execution. Our design services have grown to encompass branding, website design, and logo design, in addition to digital marketing strategy. Furthermore, our company now boasts two additional business verticals: talent management for brand collaboration services and Podcast Nation, a podcast network providing a range of services such as pre- and post-production, sales, distribution, and marketing.
As the Co-Founder, I am particularly proud of the talented team we have assembled and their unwavering dedication to our clients. Each team member brings their unique skill set and commitment to excellence to the work we do, ensuring that we consistently deliver exceptional results.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
When establishing your social media presence, it is crucial to begin by defining the value proposition that you intend to offer your followers. Remember that when it comes to content, quality takes precedence over quantity, as does the nature of your followers. Nonetheless, consistency and frequency are also critical factors.
Your social media channels should prioritize community building. By delivering value to your community, growth will inevitably occur. Keep in mind that social media is a two-way communication platform; actively engage with your community and solicit their feedback on what type of content they find useful.
Offering specific advice on social media hacks can be challenging since the algorithm evolves quickly. However, staying up to date with these changes allows you to adapt quickly, which can be a significant advantage. For example, Instagram previously focused primarily on static images but has since shifted towards competing with TikTok by prioritizing video content, and now over a year or two later it looks like it will be reverting back to prioritizing static image posts. Being able to pivot rapidly in response to these changes can have a positive impact on your engagement performance, particularly since many may take longer to recognize and adapt to these changes.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My business partner and I were best friends first. Nadine was one of my first employees at Booje Media. We then went on to start our own business in the Tech space, Flok, a rideshare community app. Even though that business failed, we learned so much from it, most importantly that we work well together and our skillsets were extremely complimentary. Based on our experience, I strongly recommend working with a potential business partner in some capacity before launching a joint venture. As a working relationship is distinct from any other relationship, it can either propel a business to success or become its downfall.
To ensure a smooth business partnership, it is imperative to establish clear ownership boundaries. Once you have committed to a joint venture, delineate the specific areas of the business that each partner is responsible for and allow each other to exercise full ownership over their respective domains.
Contact Info:
- Website: boojemedia.com
- Instagram: @boojemedia
Image Credits
Photography Credit: Booje Media