The Dawson Dream Machine

IN JUST A FEW SHORT YEARS, Are You Social has grown from a two-person business operating out of Adam’s house into a successful, multi-layered team of seven that does everything from creating content for national corporations to managing accounts and ad campaigns for small Red Deer businesses.

Adam, the older of the two siblings, started his post-secondary journey first. He came to Red Deer College without a real plan, hoping to gain learning that would help him in a competitive job market. “I started with Open Studies, but the business stuff just really clicked for me. I was getting good grades and I enjoyed it.” Once he’d completed his Management Certificate program, he was ready for more. He moved on to the Business Administration Diploma program and, again, found himself looking for the next learning opportunity. Ultimately, Adam ended up in the Bachelor of Commerce program at the University of Alberta. In his last year of university, he also discovered Instagram and purchased a GoPro, so he began to build a following on social media with extreme sports fans, while he worked for his mom’s oilfield security company. “I wanted to create something,” he says. “That’s what I’ve always done. My mom was the closest person I knew who had a business so I went to learn from her.”

Meanwhile, Andy had entered RDC in the Bachelor of Arts university transfer program. “While I was at RDC, I did a field school that took me to China for about three and a half weeks. I had the most magical experience. It’s really what solidified my love for sociocultural anthropology,” she says. Sociocultural anthropology focuses on the study of societies and cultures, and how they develop.

After transferring to the University of Calgary, Andy participated in another field school, this time in Ghana in West Africa. “It was amazing. After the six-week program, I volunteered at a NGO in the Upper East Region for an additional six weeks because I really loved the country” she says. “When I came home to think about what to do next, I had a hard time finding something that would be fulfilling but also pay the bills.”

Although the siblings hadn’t been close growing up - “We wouldn’t even talk to each other at the dinner table,” says Andy - when they found fields of study that energized them, they connected over their passion for their coursework. “I was in Calgary, he was in Edmonton, and when we’d meet at home on the weekends, we’d go study at the College. RDC was like our home base, and we really connected over our experience at the College, even though we didn’t really go to RDC together,” she remembers.

While Andy was working abroad in West Africa, Adam was learning about social media marketing by analyzing the engagement his personal Instagram was getting. A friend reached out to him about creating content for his business, and Adam began to build a social media management company. “Andy had some experience with photography, and when I asked her if she’d like to be involved, she was really excited about it. We really energized each other, which was important when we were starting out. Between us, we worked around the clock,” Adam says.

That grueling schedule was necessary, as creating content is only one piece of their job at Are You Social. “We’re also managing relationships. We’re starting relationships with our clients’ customers online, curating them, and changing a negative review to a positive one,” says Adam. “We’re often the first point of contact for your business, so it’s important for us to be knowledgeable. It’s so much more than posting on social media, and it takes a unique team of different specialists,” Andy adds.

For these reasons, some of the most challenging aspects of their post-secondary journeys have ended up giving them an edge in their industry. Adam is still constantly looking for the next learning experience. “We’ve got four solid years of experience now, running ads on multiple platforms for a variety of industries, and running multiple types of campaigns. Even within our own organization, things are always changing, so we try to always connect with each other,” says Adam. “Andy’s done a lot of work to streamline education for our staff, and we try to really work on practical strategies that we can apply to our clients.”

For Andy, finding a field where she can marry her passions for sociocultural anthropology, research and content creation is a dream come true. “It can be difficult to find work with only an undergraduate degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology,” she says. “In my role at Are You Social, I can use my skills in anthropological research and apply that knowledge in a business and marketing context. In this industry, you need to understand clients’ products and services deeply, as well as in a broad, holistic sense, and my education gives me that perspective.”

Are You Social has allowed the Dawsons the freedom to work with the small business clients they’re passionate about, while opening doors for them to work on dream projects based on their specific interests. It’s also afforded them the time to give back, working with non-profits, community groups and presenting at the Donald School of Business.

What’s next is anyone’s guess. “What else is possible?” asks Andy. “When we first pitched to Gasoline Alley Harley Davidson nearly four years ago, we had no idea we’d end up working on a project with Harley Davidson corporate in 2019. It’s amazing the opportunities that have come across our paths. There are things I wouldn’t have imagined were possible that we’ve been able to do.”

Ever wonder what riding motorcycles on the ice roads looks like? Or a heavy metal festival on a cruise ship? Check out Adam and Andy’s work with Ride North Moto, Harley Davidson Motorcycles and 70,000 Tonnes of Metal at rdc.ab.ca/notebook/thedawsons