SOCIAL MEDIA

Millionen von Followern aus dem

Homeoffice: Die Influencerin
Laura Whaley verrät die Strategie
ihres Erfolgs in den sozialen
Medien.

Interview:
MELITA CAMERON-WOOD
MEDIUM

W
hen Canadian IT consult-
ant Laura Whaley began
creating work-related vid-
eos for social media, dur-
ing the pandemic, she didn’t expect that
many people would pay attention — at
the time, she had a total of 30 followers
on TikTok. She was simply looking for
somewhere to share her thoughts about
the challenges of professional communi-
cation and working from home.
Her humorous posts are about how
to handle potential conflicts at work and
express yourself assertively but politely.
Whaley’s videos have become very pop-
ular, and she now has nearly 700,000 fol-
lowers on YouTube, some three million
on Instagram and 3.7 million on TikTok.
This popularity and her brand partner-
ships have allowed Whaley to become
a full-time influencer, with her own
branded merchandise, including cups
and socks with her tagline, “Toodaloo!”,
an informal word for “goodbye”. Whaley
spoke to Business Spotlight about creating

It’s how
a business on social media.

Why do your videos focus on remote

workers?
People face loneliness and isolation.
You’ve got to be intentional about how

you say it humorous

[(hju:mErEs]
, humorvoll, lustig

assertively
[E(s§:tIvli]
, durchsetzungsstark,
merchandise
[(m§:tSEndaIz]
, (Handels-)Artikel,
Ware(n)
tagline , Slogan
remote , hier: im
selbstbewusst
Homeoffice tätig
brand
intentional:
Foto: privat

, Marke
be ~ about sth.
, etw. beabsichtigen

32 COMMUNICATION
you spend your social time. There could also be chal-
lenges building soft skills when you’re working re-
motely. It’s harder to shift from a remote setting to an
in-person setting because of the small things that we
take for granted, like meeting etiquette and behaviour,
but remote workers develop their email writing and
time-management skills.
How did your co-workers react when you started
posting?
My co-workers and my manager had actually seen the
videos before my page blew up. I was always very care-
ful not to draw direct parallels between a real work situ-
ation and my content, so no one I worked with ever said:
“Oh! That character is based on me!”
What advice do you have for anyone who wants to
start their own business on social media?
Choose a topic you can make content about for a long
period of time. Be consistent and find what’s sustain-
able for you. Read the comments that people leave —
as long as it’s OK for your mental health. Listen to the
people supporting you and understand what content
really interests people. I studied business, and the skills I
learned are transferable to this industry, so develop your
business skills!
How has increased autonomy changed people’s career
priorities?
As children, most of us are asked what we want to be
when we grow up. But no one really thinks about how
we want to work. What is the right work environment?
Do we want flexibility and autonomy, or structure and
regularity? Do we want to be in an office or work from
home? Do we want to work nine to five or have different
working hours? Such questions will dictate lots of career
decisions. It’s not just about how much a job pays. There
are many variables that people are now talking about.
HOW TO SAY WHAT YOU MEAN — POLITELY
Laura Whaley’s “How to Professionally Say” posts help
people express what they think, in a professional way:
Don’t say: “Why didn’t you ask me for this sooner?”
SAY: “Given the tight turnaround, it would have been
beneficial to have been looped in on this sooner.”
Don’t say: “This is not my problem.”
SAY: “I recommend directing this question to [name], as
they have the proper expertise to assist you.”
Don’t say: “I forgot about your email.”
SAY: “Thank you for your patience.”
Don’t say: “You’re holding everybody up by not
completing this task.”
SAY: “I’m checking in to see if you have an ETA for when
this will be completed. Your task needs to be done in
order for us to continue working on our pieces.”
Don’t say: “This meeting is a waste of everyone’s time.”
SAY: “I recommend we postpone this meeting until we
have a more detailed and structured agenda to discuss.”
Don’t say: “I’m not staying late to deal with this.”
SAY: “My workday ends at five, but I’d be happy to
prioritize this first thing tomorrow.”
Don’t say: “Stop emailing me.”
SAY: “To ensure that information does not get missed,
can you please condense your communications into a
single email where possible?”
Don’t say: “Regardless of what you say, I’m going to do
this my way.”
SAY: “I appreciate your feedback, and I’ll keep it in mind
as we move forward.”
Don’t say: “I can’t work with you hovering over me.”
SAY: “This could be completed more efficiently if I had
the opportunity to work more independently.”

Don’t say: “I have no idea.”

SAY: “That isn’t my area of expertise, but I’ll connect
with my team and follow up with you on that.”

soft skills
, soziale Kompetenz
setting , Umfeld
in-person , hier: mit
persönlicher Anwesenheit
take sth. for granted
, etw. als selbstverständlich
erachten
etiquette [(etIket]
, [wg. Aussprache]
blow up (ifml.)
, explodieren; hier: schnell
Anhänger(innen) finden
topic , Thema
consistent
, konsequent, stimmig
sustainable , nachhaltig;
hier: auf Dauer praktikabel
mental , hier: psychisch
turnaround , Bearbeitungszeit
looped in: be ~ on sth. (ifml.)
, von etw. in Kenntnis gesetzt
werden
expertise [ˌekspɜːˈtiːz]
, Sachkompetenz
check in , sich melden
ETA (estimated time of arrival)
, geschätzte Ankunftszeit; hier:
geschätzte Bearbeitungszeit
postpone sth. appreciate sth.
, etw. verschieben [E(pri:SieIt]
, etw. zu schätzen wissen
agenda [E(dZendE]
, Tagesordnung hover over sb.
, über jmdm. schweben;
prioritize sth. [praɪˈɒrItaɪz]
hier: jmdn. zu sehr kontrollieren
, etw. Vorrang einräumen
folllow up with sb. on sth.
ensure sth. [In(SO:]
, sich bei jmdm. bezüglich etw.
, etw. sicherstellen
wieder melden
condense sth. , etw. kompri-
mieren; hier: zusammenfassen

COMMUNICATION 3/2024 Business Spotlight 33