People Doing Cool Stuff: Noella Salter
Get to know Noella Salter, Social Media Manager for Lange & Fetter Motors. This dealership is a long-time Quinte West staple (since 1952!) that gives back to the community every chance they get. They’re also changing the game on social media with stellar content marketing.
Interview by Jack McAvoy
Read time: 4 min
For those who may not be familiar, tell us a bit about Lange & Fetter and your role there.
I started here in February 2020, JUST before the pandemic started. This was perfect. When most dealerships were taking a step back from the online world, unsure of what was to come, we used it as an opportunity to really start to get our name out there, especially when everyone’s eyes were on social media while being stuck at home. When our sales staff were able to come back to work at the dealership, that’s when I was really able to start working some magic. My main goal for our social media pages is to show people who Lange & Fetter is, the people behind the name and what makes us different from the rest. Yes, I can educate and try to “sell” people on the latest F-150, but selling our staff and the experience the customer will get here is my main goal. Giving customers a reason why they should buy their F150 here rather than going somewhere else.
Lange & Fetter Motors has been a new and used vehicle dealership in the Bay of Quinte area since 1952. We were recently named the top used and new dealership in the CommunityVotes campaign. As many know, dealerships get stereotyped as being scummy and just out to gouge you for your money—we have been working hard to change this. We are honest, transparent, don’t charge extra fees, give free full tanks of gas with all our purchases, and offer free spray-in liners on all our new trucks, just to name a few ways we are working hard to beat the stigma. Our social media is just another outlet we use to stay honest and transparent with our customers and followers. We broke our own records last year by selling over 900 vehicles in 2023. When most dealerships decreased sales by 25%, we increased ours by 25% so we must be doing something right.
How does Lange and Fetter get involved in the community?
I love this question, we try to be involved as much as we possibly can! Giving back to a community that supports us so well is one of our favourite things to do. One of the first things we did when I started was host our “Focus on the Good” campaign where we had people in the community nominate someone they knew that they thought would be deserving of a new vehicle. We ended up giving away a 2012 Ford Focus to a single mom of two from Belleville. Some of our annual initiatives include a car show fundraiser with proceeds going toward Hospice Quinte and we sponsor local sports teams like the Trenton Golden Hawks and Quinte Royals. Every Friday, two of our staff head out to help deliver hot meals to community members in need through the Meals on Wheels program from VON. We also work closely with United Way Hastings & Prince Edward and are always there to help out with any community fundraising campaigns they need volunteers for.
After you shoot a piece of content, like one that recently got 17 million views, do you have a spidey sense that it’s going to go viral
Hahaha, no… I have very rarely predicted our most viral videos being the ones that were to go viral. The internet is a funny, unpredictable place. A lot of the time you’ve just gotta throw things at a wall and hope it sticks.
What is the coolest car you’ve ever seen come through at Lange & Fetter?
We see so many vehicles come through our lot but the coolest ones come around when we host our Car Shows. I think the coolest one has been a Model T from 1909. It’s really neat to see how far we’ve come in the past hundred years.
What made you want to plant your roots in the BoQ and crush this career in Social Media?
I came to the Bay of Quinte region in 2019. My husband is in the military and this is our first posting. I hope we get to stay here forever.
I went to school at the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto and specialized in Public Relations. It was always my plan to work in some sort of communications role but I didn’t realize how fun being a Social Media Manager would be, especially when you have such a fun team to capture all the time.
Where do you get inspiration for your social media content?
A lot of my inspo comes from videos that are trending and what I think I can rework to appeal best to our audiences and followers. I like to make sure that I am switching up my content all the time so I’m not constantly boring people with the same sort of images or videos that we have on our lot. Honestly, a lot of my inspo comes from TikTok and seeing if I can picture any of our many sales personalities starring in the videos. I think where a lot of people think that they just have to use their social media to promote the product they sell, I focus more on creating fun and entertaining content that shows people who our staff are and make it look like a fun place that they want to do business with.
Since building up the reputation we have, I also get a lot of followers or customers sending us video ideas they want to see us recreate. It’s fun to see the community we’ve built not just in the Bay of Quinte region but online as well.
I’m also lucky to be supported by a managerial staff that believes so heavily in the power of social media and the benefits it can bring to a business. They allow me to be as free with our content as I want to be and we are usually pretty ready to put some good money behind fun giveaways.
What is your Mount Rushmore of BoQ spots?
This is a tough question. There are so many great local spots in the Bay of Quinte area.
One of my go-to dinner restaurants is Gogi Korean Grill. The food is always incredible and the service is like no other. If you haven’t had the chance yet, go try it out. The flavours just explode in your mouth. My favourite is any of the Bulgogi dishes.
The Grind & Vine is another staple. Taylor is great and has created such a welcoming hangout spot in downtown Trenton. One of my fav things to do in the summer is grab an iced caramel macchiato and go for a walk by the water with my husband and dog.
I am a firm believer that if I have my nails done, my life feels more put together and my life would be a mess if I didn’t get to see my girl, Ellie from Nails By Ellie here in Trenton. She blows me away every time with her incredible artistic skills. You can check her out on Instagram @nails_by_3llie.
In the summertime, I love a good scoop of ice cream and my favourite place to go for that is What’s Your Scoop in Frankford. They have so many good flavours to choose from and everything is priced so well. My go-to flavour is anything chocolate peanut butter.
What is your go-to lunch break spot?
OOOOOH! I am a complete sucker for a good soup and sandwich from the Trenton Deli & Bakery! I am a Dutch girl so going into the Deli just takes me back to some of my fav childhood smells and treats. The homemade soups and fresh sandwiches are what my dreams are made of.
What are you and Lange and Fetter up to in ‘24 that we should keep an eye out for
We’ve always got fun stuff on the horizon! Just be ready for more fun and entertaining content. Also, keep an eye out for upcoming giveaways we have on our pages. We’ve previously done giveaways as big as a $3,000 trip giveaway, or giving away a brand new PS5 just because we want to.
