Marketing Happy Hour - BONUS! Where are they now?: Lauren Freund of Canva

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners. Another Tuesday means another bonus episode. And this week we are kicking off our Where Are They Now bonus series, where we'll be checking in with past Marketing Happy Hour guests to see what they've been up to since we last spoke. This week's Where Are They Now guest is Lauren, the social media manager at Canva. Lauren joined us in season one when she worked at Shutterfly for a conversation on all things social and I can't wait for you to hear what she's been up to since. Listen in. Hi, Lauren. How are you doing? I'm doing great. How are you guys doing? We are doing so well. Thanks for joining us today. I mean, gosh, it has been such a while since we've checked in with you. So of course, because it's

Starting point is 00:00:52 marketing happy hour, even though this is a Tuesday episode, we have to know what your go-to happy hour drink is. Has it changed since the last time we spoke to you? Oh gosh. You know, I honestly don't remember what I said it was last time, but I would say my go-to drink is probably just kombucha. I know that sounds pretty boring, but like, I just love different flavors. I'm obsessed with kombucha. I have it every single day. So in place, maybe like a healthy take on my happy hour drink. Yeah. I love it. Oh my gosh. I love it. Cassie and I both love kombucha. At one time I, on a black Friday sale ordered, like, I think it was like maybe seven cases of kombucha to my door. And I didn't realize how much it was, but they were doing like half off. I was like, I have to get my fix. So good job. Oh my gosh. I'm going to have

Starting point is 00:01:44 to look into that. I've only bought them one at a time but I need to get seven cases now I need to get right it was uh it was health aid so whenever they have that sale jump on it yeah all different flavors yeah everything it was on their website only though so okay I'll keep an eye out well we'd love to just kind of share with our listeners. I mean, we're keeping up with you on social, on LinkedIn. It's so fun to follow along with everything that you're doing, but we'd love for everyone to hear what you've been up to kind of since the last time we spoke. Did you change positions or companies? Cassie and I kind of know, but we'd love to hear the story. And then if so, what inspired that decision for you? Yeah, absolutely. Yes, I did change.

Starting point is 00:02:26 I now work at Canva. I am a social media manager there, which is super exciting. I have been a huge fan of Canva since I was in college. It is a lifesaver. So it's really exciting to be able to work with them now. And for anyone who doesn't know, I mean, I said it, Canva is first and foremost a lifesaver, but it's a communications platform, visual communications platform that allows you to create just a number of different things, presentations, videos, social media posts,

Starting point is 00:02:56 you name it. And we came out with a new work suite. So now you can do everything on Canva from beginning to end, which is really amazing. And so, yeah, I moved over to Canva. I work in their social media now, which is super exciting. I've gotten to work on a lot of their different brand campaigns, product campaigns, just some always on content, reactive content. So it's been a really fun time. I love it. Oh my gosh. That's awesome. Yeah, we use Canva for literally everything. It is our go-to. Favorite platform ever, I would say probably in the marketing space.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Well, you mentioned some of the stuff that you guys have been working on campaigns. I mean, even just as a consumer seeing all of the new AI features, I mean, the docs features, there's so many new things that I personally have seen come out, but I'm curious from your end and your position, what some of your favorite launches or just campaigns or projects that you've gotten the chance to work on? Yeah. Great question. Oh, gosh. Well, we actually, we have our Canva create event tomorrow, which is super exciting where we're going to be announcing. I wish we were recording this in two days, I could like say stuff, but we're going to be announcing some really exciting new products coming out. And I've had the pleasure to help

Starting point is 00:04:14 the team on just this like really big event that we're hosting to announce all of these really exciting features. So anything honestly that has to do with product is my favorite thing to work on. We are really lucky in that the Canva fans are very, very passionate and they love the platform and they're very vocal about some, you know, like features that they want or things like that. And it's just a really strong, amazing community. So I just love working on any new product updates. And I hope to share more soon. You'll see all over my LinkedIn, all the new product updates we have, which is super exciting.

Starting point is 00:04:53 So I would say that's my favorite. And then on top of that, just in general, like I have loved helping with the Canva social strategy for any company, you know, social strategies have to evolve all the time. So that's been really fun. And just like growing the channels in general has been amazing. That is so great. We will keep our eyes peeled for all of those new updates and maybe we'll, this'll be airing about a week after your conference. So maybe we can share on social media when it does come out some of those. Yes, all the info will be out then. Fantastic. Well, your episode from I think season two is one of our top performing episodes on Marketing Happy Hour ever. I think it's because you shared such amazing, actionable social media tips and a lot of things that people might not be thinking

Starting point is 00:05:45 about as they're, you know, building out their social strategies. So I would just love to know, how are you continuing to develop your skillset in social media in particular? What's something that you'd recommend to listeners to continue developing their skillsets in that area? Yes. Wow. Big question. Okay. I would say on the professional level, just always raising your hand to work on new projects, explore new avenues that will allow you to work cross-functionally. I think learning from different teams, you know, even at your own company is so valuable. You just learn how processes can work better, how to most effectively work with, you know, other teams coming from other departments. And on top of that, you learn a lot of insights that other teams may have that your audience

Starting point is 00:06:36 may value a lot. So working in social, I love learning from our PR team or our product team or analytics team, like what they're focused on and what they're hearing from their ends, because it just, you know, I get a little light bulb every time they mentioned something that I'm like, Ooh, I think our audience would really like that. Let's make a little social spin on it. So I would say in terms of like professionally developing your skills, I would say that that is probably like a really good tip. And then on a personal level,

Starting point is 00:07:05 I would recommend, again, if you're interested in social media, just testing out on your personal channels over and over because there's so many different features that come out. There's so many updates. It's honestly hard to keep up with it on different platforms. And understandably, a lot of times you can't just like post and test whatever you want on a big brand account. So I would say utilizing your personal account to just like A-B test different things, try out new ideas. And the more you do that, obviously the more you get familiar with the actual platform and products, but also you can learn actionable insights and data that you can then go to whatever company you're working for

Starting point is 00:07:45 and be like, Hey, I've got some real evidence on it. Like I tried it out. Like I think it's worth testing it on a big brand account. So those are the two major things I think would really help like developing skillsets and not just growing yourself, but also growing maybe the company you're working for. Yeah. Such a great tip. And that kind of goes into my next question here that I have for you, which is what's, what's something that you've learned either in your career strategy wise, outside of what you just shared professionally and what you've been doing recently, whether it's, you know, within your position or even outside of your position, what is something that you've taken away recently? Yeah, good question. Something that's like not

Starting point is 00:08:26 social media specific. I can get into that, but I have been, what's been really helping me recently is like time blocking or reverse time blocking. I tried time blocking at first, which is just like setting time. Okay. From one to two, I'm going to work on this project and et cetera. But I found that really stressed me out when I couldn't get it done in an hour. So what I've been doing is just keeping track of how long it takes me to do things. So I'll be like, I worked on this one presentation brief and then I'll like, right when I finished it, I'm like, wow, that took me two hours. I didn't think it would. And so I do that for my whole day. And then at the end of the day, I can look back on it and not only realize, you know, how long it took to do things, but also for my whole day. And then at the end of the day, I can look back on it and not only realize, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:05 how long it took to do things, but also for the following days. Okay. I need to make sure that I have enough time to do it. Or when you're working through process with different teams, you now have a better understanding of like, oh, I can't promise something like this far in a bit or this early. I need to, you know, put in those like time restraints. So that's been, what's really helping me. And then I also like to keep track of little wins throughout the day.

Starting point is 00:09:33 I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I'll go through a whole busy day. And if someone asks like what I was up to that day, I'll be like, I don't know. Like I just go blank, but I know I've been working the whole day, like nonstop. So it's also just like helps me professionally to understand, okay, I did a lot today and also keep track of any wins. Like, you know, it really helps when you're working all the time. If someone like complimented your presentation or said you had a good idea to just write those things down and making sure that you accomplished a lot that day, but also other people notice and you should feel good about everything that you did that day. So that's just something not social media focused that I've, I've been learning lately and it's been really helping me. I love that so much. And especially about time blocking. I also tried the

Starting point is 00:10:15 regular time blocking where you decide certain time spaces in your calendar for certain tasks. And I was finding myself like, I cannot just focus for one hour on something that's huge and then try to move on from that. Like my creative brain is just like working and working and working and doesn't want to stop working in that specific thing. So I love what you said about reverse time blocking. I've never tried that. I should. Yeah. Yeah. It's been really helping me. I actually, I read a book recently, it's called hidden focus and it's all about like focusing on what you're doing. And it's crazy. The amount of time, like once you change focus to something else, how long it takes your brain to get back into what you were doing. Yeah. And like get into that mode. So that's also something, which is hard,

Starting point is 00:11:00 right? Cause if you're working on your computer, you get email notifications and Slack notifications. So just making sure that I'm like focused on a whole thing. And when I really have to go over to something else, maybe there's like a Slack that really does need to be answered. I'm like marking that in my notebook and I never fill up more than a page. Cause I tell myself like, if I fill up more than a page of different tasks I did that day, I did too many tasks and I like switched many times. So, oh, I love that. Lauren, we're approaching the end of our little catch up here. How have you grown personally since we last spoke? Ooh, I think I've, I think I've definitely become more empowered with my work and ideas

Starting point is 00:11:43 and communication within the workplace. And, you know, that type of personal growth comes with time, you know, the more you work and the older you get, I feel like you just naturally get that confidence. But also I think what makes a huge difference is the company you work for and the team members you surround yourself with. And, you know, I've, I've been very lucky to be surrounded by people who build me up and who let me kind of like run free with things and just gaining that autonomy, which is kind of funny because I feel like that's what Canva does in general. It, you know, brings people the confidence and empowers them to create their own stuff.

Starting point is 00:12:20 So yeah, I would just say that empowerment has come from just like time and experience, but also my team and, um, just the amazing company that I get to work for. Um, I've also, you know, with social media specifically, it can be discouraging sometimes if a post or a campaign you worked on for a long time, just like didn't hit the performance level that you wanted, um, which is just how social media is, right? Like sometimes it does well, sometimes it doesn't. And I think, you know, something that has helped my personal growth is learning that even if something is a flop, as long as you learn things and like have key takeaways from it, it's just as valuable, if not more valuable than a bop or like a really good post that does well. So that's also something that I think has helped my personal growth.

Starting point is 00:13:08 Oh my gosh. So good. Every time you come on, we'll have you on again because like, wisdom, I'm like, I'm so fired up. I wrote down a couple of things already that I'm going to test and try and implement. So thank you for coming on and sharing your journey with us and congratulations on just everything you've been up to. So exciting to see the work you're doing now and just happy to see how excited and passionate about the work that you're doing. So thank you for sharing that with us. Oh, awesome.

Starting point is 00:13:35 Thank you so much for having me. I love coming on and chatting with you guys and I'm really grateful that you wanted to have me back. Absolutely. Well, before we close out to Lauren, let us know where we can stay in touch with you just so everyone can connect with you and just follow along with your journey as well. Yeah, I would say definitely on my LinkedIn.

Starting point is 00:13:53 I post quite a bit of all sorts of updates, personal updates, but also, you know, Canva updates, which as I mentioned before, there's going to be a lot of updates coming in the next couple of days as we announce some really exciting stuff. So yeah, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, reach out. I am here to meet new people and I'm here to give any more advice that is needed. Amazing. Thank you, Lauren, again for joining us today. We really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you guys. Thank you.

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Marketing Happy Hour - BONUS! Where are they now?: Lauren Freund of Canva

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