GoodEnough Media presents: Ottawa’s Own Vol. 1
Far From Average Incorporated is trying to put Ottawa on the map in a creative way and GoodEnough Media just had to get an interview with the CEO and Co-Founder Matt Kyazze.
Earlier this week I sat down with Matt Kyazze, the CEO and Co-Founder of Far From Average Inc. or, more commonly known as, FFA. Starting in 2014 as an Instagram page, FFA’s purpose was to show people in Ottawa and abroad, how great the city really is and what there is to do when you’re in Ottawa. There’s a lot of people that claim Ottawa’s a boring, conservative city with not a lot going on and FFA was driven to de-bunk that myth. Posting pictures about hidden gems, events and local artists, FFA eventually began to grow a following and is now a creative agency that specializes in social media and guerilla marketing.
Can you expand on the term guerilla marketing?
Matt: It’s a crazy way to promote our songs or artists. We try to go out of our way to be heard, for example, to promote one of Black Iri$h’s [an FFA artist] songs we had a flash mob while playing the song to get the attention of everyone walking downtown that day. Sometimes we use the city of Ottawa as a canvas with local graffiti artists to promote our upcoming events.
How did you create a following on social media following?
Matt: First thing I did was to follow people I looked up to, famous artists and fashion designers, just people that I admired and appreciated their hustle. I followed a lot of small businesses and local businesses as well. Eventually people started noticing our page and I started following and liking pictures of people that I followed and this eventually turned into follow backs. Instagram just recent put restrictions on follows and unfollows per day so this has slowed the process a little bit but we still have a pretty strong following.
What kind of pointers can you offer to entrepreneurs trying to up their social media game?
Matt: Consistency. People are hungry to check their phones all the time and if you give them a reason to do it then your content will get traffic. That being said, it’s important to find a balance when posting, you don’t want to dilute your page with mediocre stuff and be posting 3–4 times a day.
What social media platforms do you use and why?
Matt: We use Instagram and Facebook the most, Instagram being the top pick. Because they are both run by Facebook now it’s easy to set up ads in both without having to redo any work. We also use Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple music, and Spotify. Making public playlists on our music platforms really helps generate traffic to the other pages and it gives our audiences more exposure to our artists.
What kind of post generate the most interest on your page?
Matt: People love seeing the new merchandise we put out and the activities the FFA crew is up to. Working in the studio, performing at events, etc. Event posters tend to generate less likes but still very important to keep our followers up to date on upcoming parties and performances.
I’ve noticed a lot of people wearing FFA merchandise around the city, what does fashion mean to you in terms of the business?
Matt: Fashion has always been a big part of my business. I’m inspired by a lot of streetwear and fashion moguls these days like A$AP Rocky and Givenchy. Even though it’s not the main focus of FFA, fashion and merchandise is an excellent way to promote the company, people basically become walking advertisements.
Tell me a little bit about your collaboration with the streetwear company “Concrete Collective”
Matt: The guys at Concrete Collective are friends of mine and doing a collaboration event was a lot of fun and turned out really well. Together we started “House Party Thursdays” at Babylon nightclub. This is the first time the popular nightclub has been opened on Thursday in four years and we brought a whole different dynamic to the nightclub. With beer pong, giant connect four, and local dj’s, we really created a house party feel at Babylon.
It was nice working with Concrete Collective because they are 100% fashion focused and brainstorming with them really opened me up to new ways to improve my line. Collaborations are almost always good for both parties it’s a great way to expand your network.
One last question what are some future plans for FFA?
Matt: the ultimate goal is to become a record label. I want to give artists the opportunity to grow with the team. Not just pay for studio time and record production, but everything. I want artists to feel like their part of a family.
Short term I want to increase the social media following to at least 10k, currently at 8k. I also want to improve the consistency of all our social media platforms and get back into blogging. We also just started scheduling our post more so follows can have a general idea of what to expect day by day.
I’m also looking to expand the team at FFA. We have a strong team but I’m looking for another production employee to do music videos and editing, a blogger that can take over our blog, as well as an ecommerce employee to handle some of the finances.
Closing remarks:
You guys should definitely check out FFA for any upcoming events and new music. Matt and his crew are constantly pushing new content and pushing boundaries doing it.
Check them out on their Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/hashtagffa/
On their website for new merchandise and info
They also just released their first installement of “A DAY IN THE LIFE”
