In 2013, Erika Klein was working from a small nook in her master bedroom. A toddler played nearby, a newborn needed constant attention. Between nap times and snack breaks, she opened her laptop and helped her family’s senior home care agency figure out Facebook and Twitter.
She was not building an agency. She was simply helping her family.
Her father and his wife had owned a home care agency in the Chicagoland area for two decades. Erika had studied marketing and advertising in college and had always been drawn to creative work. At the time, social media was still new territory for many small businesses, but she was curious enough to teach herself. What started as helping one senior care location soon expanded. By 2013, she was assisting several Illinois franchises within the same national network. In 2014, she was added to the corporate preferred vendor list.
Erika recalls that moment as the moment she went from being a local woman who “did social media” to the founder of Social Butterfly, a name affectionately coined by her father. At the time, she was a one-woman show. Today, it feels fitting in ways neither of them could have predicted.
More than a decade later, Social Butterfly serves approximately 150 clients. One hundred of them are in senior care and home care. The others are small businesses, many local and a growing number national. Most of those national relationships came through word of mouth, something the team is especially proud of. In an industry built on visibility, their own growth has come largely from reputation.
The office is made up of six women, including Erika’s sister, Lisa Edelman who officially joined the team two years ago. When Erika started, it was just her balancing client calls with bedtime routines. Now she has five employees. Her longest team member, Lisa Pettinelli, has been with her for six years. The others have joined over the past two to four years as the need has grown.
When listening to Lisa P. and Erika speak, there is a rhythm to it. They move around each other easily, finishing thoughts without trying. At one point Lisa laughs and says, “She’s the butter, I’m the fly.” They both admit they are not entirely sure what that means, but they like the way it sounds. The ease between them is clear and so is the shared pride in what they have built.
From the beginning, senior care has been the heart of the business. Growing up around a home care agency shaped Erika’s understanding of aging and caregiving. She saw how deeply personal those decisions are for families. In senior care, marketing is not about pushing a product, it’s about trust and connecting people to much needed services.
“It’s all about the people,” she explains. The staff and caregivers, the seniors and their families, the referral partners and community connections. Social media, in this space, becomes a way to tell those stories thoughtfully.
On their website, they talk about compassionate storytelling and building trust. In conversation, it becomes clear that empathy and strategy are not separate lanes. They begin with the human side and shape the content from there. Each post is meant to connect emotionally while also serving a clear purpose. Building visibility. Building credibility. Supporting growth.
Lisa P. shared one example that stayed with her; A client who has donated much of his time, expertise, and personal historical collection back to the community. Her role is to spread the word in a thoughtful way. As she described the project, there was pride in her voice. It was not just about engagement metrics; it was about honoring someone who had invested in his town and making sure the community knew the impact of his generosity.
That mindset extends to all their clients. Social Butterfly works with organizations such as the American Legion in Huntley and the McHenry County Mental Health Board. They have also helped launch the McHenry County Brand Builders campaign, encouraging businesses to spend their advertising dollars locally. The idea is simple, when you invest in your own community, everyone benefits.
Michelle Obrochta, another team member, put it this way: The goal is for “each client to feel like the only client.” She prides herself on developing close relationships with the businesses they serve. Knowing a client’s story and personality leads to more authentic content. It also builds trust on both sides.
Lisa P. is quick to add perspective. “We are not a silver bullet but an important part of a moving puzzle,” she says. Social media alone does not fix a business but works best when it supports a larger strategy. That honesty has helped shape long term partnerships rather than short term contracts.
Over the past decade, the industry has changed dramatically. Social media is no longer something businesses feel they should do. It is something they must do. Algorithms shift. Platforms rise and fall. Attention spans shrink. Through it all, Social Butterfly has evolved alongside its clients.
Their hard work has been recognized. In 2024, they were named Best of the Fox Business to Business Service in McHenry County. They have also received multiple Huntley Chamber Committed Contributor Awards. Erika serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Huntley Chamber of Commerce, another sign of how connected the company is to the community it serves.
Erika still remembers that bedroom nook. A young mother figuring things out one post at a time. What began as helping her dad has grown into a team of six women supporting 150 clients. The scale has changed. The heart has not. The women at Social Butterfly understand that the stories they share can do more than build a brand. They can connect people to services, to support, and sometimes to each other.
Social media is personal work. And for Erika and her team, it remains rooted in the same place it started. Relationships first. Everything else follows.
Knowing a client’s story and personality leads to more authentic content.