Yukon Quest recognized for social media strategy

The Yukon Quest is getting some national attention for its social media strategy. 

The Canadian digital marketing company Elephant's Remark recently published a list of six companies that "do social right, year round," including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Calgary Stampede and the Academy Awards.

And among those household brands — the Yukon Quest. Though it doesn't have TIFF's brand recognition, let alone that of the Oscars, the over 1,600-kilometre international sled dog race is well known to northerners. 

Connecting with their audience 

"They have a very human brand that is very relatable," said Ashley Saunders, co-founder of Elephant's Remark.

"There are so many events companies out there that really only do a social media push while the event is happening," she said.

"The Yukon Quest have done a really good job of creating a build-up that includes call-outs to their sponsors, their mushers, people in the community that are involved with the event."

Whitehorse's Pixie Ingram started working on the Quest's social media accounts in 2009. She's managed them through her company, Pixie Ingram Consulting, since 2016. 

"It's pretty fantastic to have a client recognized," she said. "The organization and teams I have worked with since I started with this project have put a lot of hard work into this, and it feels good to get some outside recognition for it."

Ingram operates the accounts year-round and hires a team to help during race time in February. 

"With some of the bigger companies — CNE [Canadian National Exhibition], Calgary Stampede, Oscars — they are paying a boatload of people to sit in a room and do nothing but throw content out there for their brand," said Saunders.

"It was very refreshing to see a Canadian brand doing so well without the social media budget the Oscars has."