A social media campaign to attract new, younger residents to the Sunshine Coast is claiming success.
This is the Coast ran as a pilot project from May 15 to Aug. 31 last year. The idea was to use social media to “tell the story of daily life on the Sunshine Coast; to give an authentic take on the Coast lifestyle, and engage the lower coast communities.”
Organizers set up the website www.thisisthecoast.ca, a Twitter handle, @thisisthecoast, and the hashtag #freerangeliving.
The Sunshine Coast Credit Union led the initiative, with a handful of other businesses putting up seed money or donating services and expertise.
The project also got financial support from the Town of Gibsons, District of Sechelt, and the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) to the tune of $7,500. The final report on how that money was used and what the campaign achieved went to the SCRD’s planning and development committee on Feb. 18.
The report said around 4,000 people visited the website, leading to 50 inquiries, and four families who said the campaign influenced their decision to move to the Sunshine Coast.
Justine Bugayong and her partner Patrick Truchon are one of those four families. She’s from Vancouver and he’s originally from rural Quebec.
Bugayong said they’d been kicking around the idea of moving out of the Lower Mainland, and even visited the Sunshine Coast a few years ago, but the plan was on the back burner – until she heard some Vancouver media coverage of This is the Coast.
“I kept note of what the website was and went on it later that day,” she said.
This is the Coast put her in touch with residents who have similar backgrounds and jobs (she’s a nurse, her partner is a teacher) and, most importantly for Bugayong, people who commute to Vancouver to work.
In the end, though, it was the chance to meet some of those people face-to-face that made the difference. “They [This is the Coast] had this barbecue in the summer,” she explained. “Up until then it was via email or phone calls that I was connecting with people … I think the barbecue really solidified it for me, because I could actually talk to these people. There were just all these connections being made that day. What I liked about that was it gave me a sense of the community,” Bugayong added.
Although the couple’s new house in Roberts Creek won’t be ready until spring, Bugayong said they’re already getting a feel for the different pace of Sunshine Coast life.
Another big factor for Bugayong was affordability. “We sold our two-bedroom, 1984 condo, and bought two-and-a-half acres,” she said.
Affordability didn’t play as big a role for Aaron Fitzpatrick and his partner Brandi, who moved to the Sunshine Coast from Ontario last fall after making some connections through This is the Coast. He told Coast Reporter that so far they’ve found the housing and other costs of living in Roberts Creek about on par with the Hamilton area.
“I think it made a pretty huge impact being able to connect with real people,” Fitzpatrick said. The couple got advice on everything from grocery shopping to where to find the best hiking trails.
Fitzpatrick said as far as work goes they have fairly portable careers. His partner is in the hospitality industry, and he’s got experience in media, graphic design and animation. “I’m kind of aiming to do more of a work-from-home role,” he said.
“The main thing for us has been improving the quality of life for our children, and the Sunshine Coast has been absolutely great in that regard,” he added.
According to Credit Union CEO Shelley McDade, the total cost for the campaign was over $37,000 when the donated services and expertise are factored in. She said that’s good value for money.
“I think for the short time period that the pilot was up, when I look at many other attempts to bring families to the Coast, I think the important part was that we got in front of 4,000 [website] visitors and we’re now on their mind, and we spoke to 50 people directly. The timing on how those people come to the Coast will be different, so I think there could be residual moves.”
McDade also credits the campaign’s personal touch with leading to success.
“During the pilot, we had the group that was managing the website and the connection group actually looking at the inquiries and not just hooking them up with any Coast resident, but hooking them up with someone who had the same likes and characteristics they did … so they could get a real sense of what their life would look like, and the good things they could look forward to on the Coast and some things they might want to prepare for,” she said.
For now, www.thisisthecoast.ca is inactive, but McDade said they’re hoping to relaunch once the new Coast-wide economic development agency is up and running.
