Social Media Archives | Reverbal Communications

Brand Management, Politics, Social Media

3 Lessons on Leaning Into Your Values From Ben And Jerry’s

Ben & Jerry’s proudly displays their core values, which guide all of their work on digital and in general.

Ben & Jerry’s is the top-selling ice cream brand in the US and has a massive fan base of ice cream lovers all over the world.

But they don’t just make ice cream. They also speak their values. Loudly and proudly. In fact, they’re one of America’s most outspoken brands.

Often when we think of people making a stand on important issues, we think of activists, advocates and politicians… not big businesses. But time and time again, Ben & Jerry’s have shown that businesses can – and should – be a part of the most important conversations shaping our lives.

Not only have they shown that living your values is important, but they have also laid out a roadmap for other businesses looking to join them in doing so – especially in regards to their very popular and very outspoken social media program.

So let’s take a moment to explore some of Ben & Jerry’s top-performing posts across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and dissect just what makes their social media content so powerful.

First off, if you didn’t already know, Ben & Jerry’s is a company that is seriously committed to progressive values.

Human rights, social and economic justice, as well as protecting the environment make up the core tenets of their values. And these stances frame all of their work from the ice cream they make to the tweets they share. You can learn more about their values here.

So what can we learn from this iconic brand that never accepts silence in the face of injustice? A lot!

Lesson 1: Your Values Should Drive Your Entire Business – Not Just Your digital Content

That’s the primary lesson to take from Ben & Jerry’s. If your values don’t touch every aspect of your business, then they won’t seem authentic when you throw a social post into the world in honor of some holiday or news event.

Ben & Jerry’s constantly seeks out opportunities to support causes and they take big risks to fight for what they think is right.

Take this post about a new ice cream flavor for example. It’s their fourth most popular Facebook post of the past year and it highlights their commitment to fighting for racial justice and equity.

Ben and Jerry’s live their values in everything their business does.

Not only did Ben & Jerry’s take the opportunity to voice support for an important cause, but they also put their money where their mouth is. By partnering with Colin Kaepernick, and committing to giving all of proceeds to his organization, Know Your Rights Camp, Ben & Jerry’s shows that they are a company that doesn’t just talk the talk on Twitter, but one that truly lives its values.

While you and your organization may not be able to partner with Colin Kaepernick, your brand can still find ways to live your values.

Start by naming them. What do you believe in and why do those beliefs matter.

Once you’ve named them, share them with your employees, talk about them with community members. And of course show them in your content.

Sometimes we have to take risks to do what is right. If you’re going to choose to voice your values, you’re also going to have to stand by them when they’re tested.

That’s exactly what Ben & Jerry’s did this past summer during heightened tensions in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict when they ended their franchise agreements with stores in “occupied Palestinian territory.”

Sticking to your values isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it.

While plenty of very vocal people and organizations disagreed with this move from Ben & Jerry’s, the company stood true to its core value of advocating for human rights and dignity, above all else.

It’s not always easy to do what we believe is right. But the fact is, when you do, people notice. Your employees know when you do – and even more so when you don’t! – stay true to your word. Your followers do too – just check out the comments of that Instagram post.

And since 70% of consumers want to know what brands are doing to address social and environmental issues – social media is a great place to live your values!

Lesson 2: Meet Your Customers Where They Are By Being Part of the Conversation

Another aspect of Ben & Jerry’s social media content that makes it so powerful is that the brand speaks to consumers at the moments when it counts the most.

When you know your values, you always know what to say.

As the country, and many of us here in Wisconsin, were grappling with the outcome of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, Ben & Jerry’s came out with a statement showing the hypocrisy of the criminal justice system.

Being a part of the conversation while it’s happening can be difficult – unless you, your staff, and your audience already know what your values are. Then, it’s not nearly as hard.

By having clear core values, Ben & Jerry’s was able to respond to this event as it was happening in a way that made their stance clear and that also contributed to the online conversation happening around the trial.

Don’t just share your values, share your reasoning behind them like Ben & Jerry’s did here.

Ben and Jerry’s is also good at telling you why they feel a certain way about a timely issue. They provide transparent explanations and press releases that can take complicated issues and make their stance on them clear cut.

Some followers are going to disagree with you. But by making your values clear, and backing them up with the thought process behind them, you will show that you’re a business that’s thinking about these issues critically and applying your values to them.

By creating content that sparks or contributes to a conversation, while also explaining your position, you can encourage followers to interact with your business on social media while also building the trust of your most loyal customers, who likely feel the same way you do.

Lesson 3: You Don’t Have to Fight Every Battle, And You Don’t Have to Fight Anything Alone

While Ben & Jerry’s certainly doesn’t shy away from taking tough stances and big risks, they also don’t fight every battle.

When you know who you are and what you value, it’s easier to know what to say and when to say it. And your followers will better understand what to expect from you.

Ben and Jerry’s is passionate about social justice. On 4/20, they could have easily just posted a joke about Half Baked or ice cream being the perfect cure for the munchies!. But this are no ordinary ice cream brand.

Instead they posted about racial disparities in arrest rates for marijuana and the importance of passing the MORE act.

Ben and Jerry's encourages Congress to pass the MORE act on Twitter.

They’re not out there taking on big tech or tweeting at particular politicians. But they are displaying their values in ways that make sense by informing their audience and urging them to action.

This is something that any business can do. By talking about issues that make sense for the values your brand represents, you can build a loyal and dedicated following. You might not get every sale, but your values have a way of breaking through even the most crowded media environment.

There are also plenty of ways to make your values relevant to your business, besides just talking about them on social media.

Partnerships with organizations or folks in your community can be a great way to share your values.

Partnerships can also be a powerful way to do so. In this example, Ben & Jerry’s partnered with an activist organization, a Black-owned coffee producer, and a Black artist to advocate for transforming the way we approach public safety.

These kinds of partnerships can be developed for any business.

If you’re a bank that values economic justice, partner with a local organization to help teach folks about financial literacy.

Maybe you’re a clothing brand passionate about supporting animal shelters – that’s awesome. Partner with a local artist to make a T-shirt and donate part of the proceeds to a local shelter.

Efforts like these will make it easier for you and your followers to stand up for what you believe in while also helping to amplify your presence in your community by bringing new people into your audience.

Overall, we can really learn a lot about how to share values on social media from seeing how pros like Ben & Jerry’s do it.

Their willingness to articulate and stick to their values permeates throughout their business, making them an active participant in important conversations, and a powerful ally to partners fighting for the same values.

Your business can do this too… if you want. And when you do so, your employees and your followers will love you all the more.

Looking for ways to further incorporate your values into your digital marketing program?

Let’s Talk!

May 19, 2022/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Social Media, Step Up Your Social, Twitter

Likes On Social Media Are Free

This is a short episode, adapted from an article I wrote 5 years, about the importance of engaging with positive comments on social media. It’s as true today as it was the day I wrote it. So I wanted to share it with you, my podcast listeners.

If someone goes out of their way to say something nice about you on social, and you can’t be bothered to smash that like button, you should re-evaluate why you are on social in the first place!

Listen to the full episode here or wherever you stream podcasts. And scroll down for a full episode transcript.

Find other episodes of Step Up Your Social here.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

I wrote a version of this post 5 years ago. It’s just as true today as it was then . So I wanted to share it with you, my podcast listeners.

On Friday night — five years ago — I went to see a Grammy winning bluegrass legend wow his crowd with songs spanning his 40+ year career.

Because I’m both a bluegrass nerd and a social media nerd, I streamed one of his songs via Facebook Live.

It was late on a weekend night and it didn’t get a lot of views in real time. But over the next 36 hours or so, it was watched a few dozen times. (And now I can go back and rewatch the band anytime I want on my personal Facebook page!) But truth be told, by Sunday night, I wasn’t thinking about the video anymore than I was about the drive to and from the show.

But then Monday morning, something interesting happened — my video was “liked” by the bluegrass legend it featured.

Now let’s be clear: I don’t think that this artist liked the post himself (although he might have). More likely it was a member of his marketing or management team.

But the notification that he had liked my video popped up, and I have to be honest — I got excited. Like, more excited than I probably should have.

I work in social media for a living. I know how this works. I know he probably has some marketing agency liking positive mentions of him online. But you know what: it still got its intended effect out of me!

Having him like my video felt like getting a high five or a quick hello from a bluegrass legend.

Does that digital high five mean that we are suddenly best friends? Of course not.
Does it mean I can suddenly shred on the mandolin like he can? I wish!

Am I still excited enough that it happened that I immediately wanted to tell all my friends about it? Yup.

Liking that post cost him and his team literally nothing. Yet it added to my excitement about the show and about the artist overall.

Social media serves many roles, not least of which is customer service and community relations.

Think about yourself as a movie star. When you walk down the street, people are going to recognize you. You can’t stop and have lunch with every fan. You can’t even stop and take a picture with them all or you’d never get anywhere. But you can nod and smile to everyone who waves at you.

That’s what a “like” is on social media — it’s a head nod from a celebrity. It doesn’t suddenly make you best friends or ensure that they will buy your product/go see your next movie/buy your upcoming album. But it shows the fans that you are real, and that you respect them as people, not just as consumers. And it only takes as much time to create that connection as you need to give a single click of your mouse or tap on your phone.

If someone posts about you or your business online, respond. Or at the very least, smash that like button.

If they write you a review, thank them (or address any concerns as needed). But at the very least, like their post and let them know you see them and you appreciate them.

If you see a celebrity on the street, and you wave at them, you are going to tell your friends one of two stories:

“Oh my goodness, I just say this famous person on State Street. It was so cool!”

*** OR ***

“I just saw this famous person on State Street. He was kind of a jerk.”

You’re the celebrity. Which would you prefer?

May 11, 2022/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Publer, a powerful and affordable social media management tool

Digital Tools, Social Media

10 Reasons I Use Publer To Manage Social Media For Myself and My Clients

On any given week, I can create, edit, manage and/or directly post north of a hundred pieces of content to social media. These posts get shared on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google My Business… all that fun stuff!

Some of the posts are for my own channels – many are for my clients.

I’ve experimented with a lot of third party scheduling tools. And I mean a lot!

But for the cost and the power, I’ve yet to find one that comes even close to Publer.io.

In this post, I’m going to give you 10 reasons why I use Publer to schedule and manage social media content for both myself and for my clients.

1) You can customize social media posts by channel

Over the years, I’ve used a bunch of the better known social media scheduling tools. Whether free or pricey, almost all of them lacked this one key feature and it caused me endless headaches. (I’ll mention here that Agorapulse DOES have this feature but their price point is significantly higher than Publer, as well as Buffer, Hootsuite, etc.)

This feature has been kind of a game changer for me to be honest. In fact, it’s such a big one, you can just skip the rest of my list and go ahead and sign up today at publer.io if you’re so inclined.

So let’s say I wanted to do a post thanking WisDems (that’s shorthand for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin) for hosting an event.

I can create a single post in Publer, and then edit it as needed by channel.

Which matters SO MUCH if you want to be able to tag WisDems (or anyone else!) in your post.

In Buffer and Hootsuite, you have three options.

Create separate posts for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, making sure that each post is just right
Don’t tag them on any channel
Tag them on one channel and let the remaining channels show a broken link

Not tagging someone on social media is like talking to them on the phone without first dialing their number . They might hear you, but probably not! You’re missing an opportunity to build on your relationship online and potentially get in front of their audience.

Tagging people with broken links… well that’s worse than not tagging them at all!

Publer solves this problem completely. Create your post once and then click the little street sign icon in the bottom left corner.

Now you can edit your post by channel.

And for what it’s worth – you have plenty of channels to choose from. Publer lets you post on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google My Business, YouTube, and WordPress. And apparently they have more channels on the way.

Often, editing by channel is as simple as making sure all tags are correct.

But you can also use this feature to specify which graphics you want to use on which platform. Or to share unique utm links per channel, if you’re looking to track links in Google Analytics or elsewhere.

Sometimes, a post that works great for Facebook will be just a bit too long for Twitter. Time to put on the old editing cap and whittle that post down.

OR if your post is far too long for whittling down, you can hop over to reason number 2 why I so love Publer, and create yourself a tweet thread!

2) You Can Create Tweet Threads In Publer

Sometimes you can say everything you need to say in just a few words. For everything else, there’s tweet threads!

Twitter limits posts to 280 characters. If that’s not enough space to get your message across, you can thread your tweets together to create a longer piece of content.

This was actually a user generated concept — users looking to go beyond characters limits (at the time a paltry 140!) started simply replying to their own tweets. Sometimes once, sometimes dozens of times. They literally started “threading” their tweets. As Twitter so loves to do, they took tools the users were already hacking together and implemented them into the platform.

But there was a problem. Until recently, Twitter’s API didn’t allow 3rd party tools to create threaded tweets. Mindbogglingly, this included Tweetdeck, which is owned by Twitter and STILL doesn’t have the functionality! That’s right, if you want to schedule tweets in a platform owned by Twitter, you have long had the option to do so through Tweetdeck. But even today, you can only create single tweets – not tweet threads.

The same is true of pretty much every other third-party tool I’ve tested. Until I found Publer.

Publer let you schedule responses to posts on any channel, even with an optional built-in delay. And for Twitter, they let you schedule as many responses as you want – aka – tweet threads!

Start by typing your first tweet.

Then click those talk bubbles underneath.

Toggle on the option to “add follow up comments.”

Note: if you’ve created content for more than one channel (ie: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn AND Twitter) you can easily select which account(s) you want to add follow-up comments too.

Once you’ve selected Twitter, you can add as many additional tweets as you want:

Just keep hitting that “add another comment” button until you’ve said your piece in full!

It’s worth mentioning that when I first started using Publer, you were limited to a single follow-up on Twitter, just like with every other platform. Often two tweets is plenty for a thread.

But Twitter opened up their API and Publer eventually added the option to thread as many posts as you want to a thread. As someone who does a lot of work in politics, this was another game changer!

But even if you don’t work in politics, it’s worth knowing that tweet threads can often get higher engagement than a standalone tweet.

One other note – until recently, you couldn’t add media (pictures or videos) to follow up tweets in a thread. That changed recently as well.

Bringing us to reason number 3 to use Publer as your third-party social media scheduling tool:

3) They regularly update the platform

Not much to say here other than that it’s nice to work with a tool that’s regularly getting new functionality added to it.

Users can even request new tools.

I’ve requested a few – I don’t think any of them have been added. But that’s okay. So long as they don’t remove reasons one or two, I’ll stick with Publer indefinitely!

4) You can reuse media from your Media library

I try not to re-use images too often on social media. But sometimes, it just makes sense.

If you’re promoting an event – you aren’t going to create a brand new graphic every time you post about it.

We’ve all waded through a labyrinth of Google Drive folders to find that one image we need. It’s especially complicated when you are working with a team (or teams!) who use different file naming conventions… or worse yet – no naming conventions at all!

Publer’s media library simplifies this. Once you’ve uploaded media to any post, that media will automatically get stored in your media library.

You can then head to the library whenever you’re looking for an image and share it right from there.

You can also pre-add content to your library, including photos, videos, and GIFs. In addition to this, you can also label your media for easy organization and even upload media directly to your library from Canva and other online graphic design tools.

5) Publer has a free built-in link in bio tool

Instagram famously only lets you have a single link anywhere on the platform. You get one link in your bio, and that’s it. You can’t add links to posts (you can, but they won’t be clickable) and until recently you had to have 10k+ followers to share links in Stories. That changed recently, but a Story Link sticker still isn’t enough for most brands.

Enter the Link In Bio tool.

With a link in bio, you can create a landing page that shows all of your Instagram posts with links, and folks can click through to an associated link from the matching post.

It’s far from perfect, but for many content creators, it’s better than the alternative – no links at all!

There are loads of free and paid link in bio tools out there. But Publer has one built right into its platform.

It’s easy to set up, simple to use and it’s free.

To create yours, click your settings menu in the top right corner and then select Link In Bio.

You can then customize your page, including adding primary links – like website, your store page, your social channels, your ActBlue account if you’re a candidate… anything important and evergreen.

You can even add custom images for those evergreen links to keep things looking nice and on brand.

Then, whenever you’re creating an Instagram post through Publer, you can simply add a link, as needed, to the bottom of the post.

Once done, you can mention in the post that people can learn more (or shop, or donate, etc.) through the Link In Bio.

When someone clicks the link in bio, they’ll see that post, as well as all others you’ve added links to, and can then click directly through to the url.

Not as easy as Twitter or Facebook, but that’s how Instagram rolls. So nice to have an easy – and free! – workaround.

I’ll also refer you back to reason number one that I use Publer as my third party social media scheduling tool of choice – not only is this great feature built right into the platform, you don’t even have to create a standalone Instagram post. You can crosspost the same content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, wherever, and then customize by channel and drop that link into the bio.

Voila. You are good to go!

6) You can share specific channels with your team

If you’re a one-person social media team, this next feature probably won’t matter to you. But if you are working with clients, or managing a team of people who help with content creation, this next feature is key!

You can add team members to your account, with limited access levels.

You can even pick and choose which accounts to share access to, so you’re not turning over the keys to the whole kingdom, just to the doors that make sense for any given client or team member.

To add someone to your account, click the dropdown menu next to your avatar (top right of the page) and select “Manage Teams.”

From here you can add team members (clients, band members, people from your team…) and provide them access.

They can then create content you approve, do final edits, give green lights before you post – whatever works for you and your social media team!

7) They have a built-in RSS feed for easy content curation

Publer has an easy to use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed, to help making content curation a breeze. RSS feeds are a great way of pursuing the internet without having to bookmark and track dozens, or even hundreds, of links.

Head to their “Content” tab and you can search for articles by keyword and category, and filter by date, language, country and even domain.

You can even save your searches to make future curation even easier. This is great for businesses who consistently speak on a few core topics or nonprofits or political campaigns who are passionate about specific issues.

Once you’ve found an article that looks interesting, click share and it will pop you right into your creator tab to let you choose which account(s) you want to post it to, write your copy and post or schedule.

8) They have a Chrome Plugin and it’s actually kinda great

Add the Publer Chrome plugin to your browser, and then anytime you are surfing the net and see something interesting, you can easily share it without ever leaving your tab.

Pretty convenient for a social media manager on the go, no?!

9) They have built-in analytics

I’m a firm believer in the power of analytics for social media. Your audience is talking to you through your analytics – it’s your job to listen!

Publer has built in analytics for your accounts.

Honestly, I don’t use their analytics much. I prefer to go directly to the platforms for more granular looks at how things are doing.

That said, they are convenient, free and right there.

They also send regular emails letting you know which of your posts are your top performers. That one is pretty nice to have, if for no other reason than it’s a good reminder that you should be digging deeper into the backend of your accounts.

10) They have good customer service

I never wear rose colored glasses when it comes to any digital platform.

I’ve had some significant technical issues with Publer over the years.

I was posting content to one Twitter account that regularly had tweets end mid-sentence even though I was 1000% sure I had everything set up perfectly (I mean the first time I was quite sure, but by the 5th time, I was quadruple checking and it was still happening).

Google has tech issues. Amazon has tech issues. Facebook is pretty much just one massive tech issue these days. These things happen. To use the internet is to accept that.

But… every time I’ve had issues with Publer, I’ve reached out and found real people ready and eager to solve my issues. I definitely can’t say that for every platform I work with!

So to recap – here are 10 reasons I use Publer for social media scheduling and management

You can customize social media posts by channel
You can create Tweet Threads
They regularly update the platform
You can easily reuse media from your media library
They have a free built-in link in bio tool
You can easily provide limited access with team members and clients
They have a built-in RSS feed for easy content curation
They have a Chrome Plugin that’s actually kinda great
They have built-in analytics
They have solid customer service

A few features I’d love to see Publer add

So yeah, clearly I’m a fan of Publer. But it’s obviously not perfect.

A few updates I’d love to see:

I’d love to be able to post Instagram carousels (aka albums) through Publer. Currently, you can post multiple pictures to Facebook and Twitter, but you’re limited to a single image for Instagram. I’m quite sure this is an Instagram API issue, but still on my ultimate social media consultant wish list.

I’d love to be able to post and schedule Stories to Instagram directly from Publer. Hopefully this one is in the works.

I’d love to be able to engage directly with comments once my posts are live right in Publer. This one is a beast and likely if Publer ever added this, their price point would look very different. I only know of one scheduling tool that currently has this option and that’s Agorapulse (which is, again, powerful but expensive). I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that would be another game changer for me.

Ready To Start Scheduling?

So that’s 10 reasons I use Publer as my go-to third-party social media scheduling tool.

If you have any reasons you like Publer, let me know! Or if there are any features it’s missing, or a reason why you love one of the many, many alternatives on the market, let me know that as well.

I’ll also mention that I don’t do affiliate marketing for any products or services, but do have an affiliate link for this one specific tool. I only have an affiliate link because I’m such a fan of the platform that I found I was constantly recommending it anyway. Just wanted to be fully upfront about that.

If this post was helpful to you and you do wind up signing up, please use this link when you do so – publer.io/jlemonsk

Check out publer today

Thanks for reading. Happy scheduling!

December 15, 2021/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Brand Management, Social Media, Step Up Your Social

Step Up Your Social Ep. 5 — Are You Displaying Your Handles Everywhere?

Step Up Your Social Ep. 5

Are you leaving low hanging fruit on the table? Are you missing opportunities to encourage your current customers, fans or audience to start conversations with you online, thus promoting your brand to their own networks in the process?

In this episode, we cover two inter-related topics: the importance of displaying your handles *everywhere* your audience is and the vital role that engagement plays in creating and managing a beneficial social media program.

Never forget — social media is not a tool to speak TO the people. It’s a tool to speak WITH the people. The goal is to have conversations and to build relationships.

Find other episodes of Step Up Your Social here.

Full Episode Transcript

Today we’re going to cover 2 inter-related topics: 1) the importance of displaying your handleseverywhereyou audience is. And 2) the vital role that engagement plays in creating and managing a beneficial social media program.

So let’s jump right in.

There’s a restaurant in Madison where, after you order, they hand you a number to place on your table so they can bring you your food. Pretty standard operating procedure for a lot of restaurants. BUT on the back of the number they hand you, they’ve printed their social handles. It’s amazing too me how few restaurants take advantage of such precious real estate.

Do you think that diners are going to be more or less likely to post about a restaurant when the restaurant’s handles are right there in their face, as they are captive audiences, waiting for their food.

You don’t need to be a restaurant to learn from this simple social hack. Are there opportunities your brand is missing to turn your offline customers or audience into online fans?

If you’re in a band, invite your fans to connect you on social. No one is going to care more about what you post on Monday morning than the person who came out to see you on Saturday night.

If you run a brick and mortar store, display your handles near the door, near the cash register and on any other spaces you think will speak to your customers.

I’m blown away when I see packaging from big companies that doesn’t mention the company’s social handles.

There’s no one you more want to connect with online than the folks you are already connecting with you offline. They are your base. Your foundation. Your community. Putting your handles everywhere you are already connecting with them helps to move that community to connect with you online as well as off. And when they do so, you have helped facilitate your big fans — your current customers — to easily tell their own networks about you, and how much they love you, in the process.

If you hand out paperwork, send out physical products or distribute anything, put your handles on it! If you print t-shirts or bumper stickers or hats, put your handles on them.

If you have a brand hashtag, include that as well.

If people visit your location, whether it’s a brick and mortar store, a restaurant, a non-profit or anything else, display your handles loudly and proudly.
I also recommend putting up a sign encouraging people to “check in” on Facebook. You can offer incentives — a free drink or a bumper sticker for anyone who does so — but to be honest, for a lot of folks, just being asked will be enough encourage to get them to pull out their phones and tell their friends where they are right now. And when they check in, their networks will see those notifications. And the Facebook algorithm will get excited and start pinging away on your behalf.

Never forget — social media is not a tool to speak TO the people. It’s a tool to speak WITH the people. The goal is to have conversations and to build relationships. It’s fine if you are starting the conversations you are having with your community. But it will be waaaay better for you when members of your community are starting the conversations with you instead. Displaying your handles is one of the surest ways available to encourage them to do so. And it costs you nothing.

Caveat: this is true whether or not you display your handles, but ESPECIALLY if you do — you need to be monitoring your social channels and making sure that when folks do tag you, thus starting a conversation, they aren’t then going on to be ignored by you.

You HAVE to speak back. Sometimes a like is all their comment requires. Responses are better though, even if just to say thanks. We’ll do another episode soon on dealing with trolls and difficult questions, but at the least, take advantage of the low hanging fruit right in front of you — the positive comments and the simple questions your audience is asking (do you have a gluten free option? What are your hours?)

If you could monitor your social channels constantly, that would be great! But let’s be realistic, you probably can’t. And that’s okay. Set reminders on your phone or put a post-it note above your desk as a way to remind yourself to check your notifications. At minimum: check them once a day. More is better, but I’d rather you do it once a day consistently than fail trying to do it 3 times a day.

People will be fine with a lag in conversation of a few hours. They’ll likely even forgive a full day passing before getting a response. But any more than that and the window will have closed. You will be trying to converse with someone who has already moved on to the next thing.

Don’t let the low hanging fruit elude you. Post your handles anywhere your community is. And when they talk to you, talk back! A like or a quick thank you costs you nothing and they go a long way towards letting the people that matter to your brand know that you aren’t trying to talk at them, rather you see them as an integral part of your community.

And really, what could be more social than that?!

January 23, 2019/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Brand Management, Politics, Social Media

Social Media Loves Babies and Puppies… But Hates Hypocrisy

If you have tuned out this news completely for Memorial Day weekend, congratulations!

If not, the biggest story in your varied timelines is probably about how the US is systematically removing children from their parents, many of whom came here seeking asylum (and all of whom came seeking a better life).

The parents are being given no information as to where their children are being taken or when — if ever — they will get to see them again. To make matters worse, we are now learning that the US has lost children (thousands of them 😞😱😡) that are supposed to be in the system, and that many of these children are getting sold to human traffickers.

This morning, Ivanka Trump tweeted a picture. The caption: “My ❤️! #SundayMorning”

While ordinarily, a picture like this would have gotten the Likes and the RTs rolling in, it could not have been more tone deaf to the world around it.

Ivanka is not just President Trump’s daughter, she is also a senior member of his administration.

A tweet does not live in a vacuum. A digital intern would have looked at this tweet and recommended to Ivanka she not post it, when the story of the weekend is lost children.

But post it she did. And so the Quote Tweets rolled in:

David Roberts — Writer for Vox

Patton Oswalt — Comedian, Actor, Michelle McNamara’s Husband

West Wing Reports

Jess Dweck — TV Writer

As a general rule, pictures and videos of babies and puppies can be engagement gold. But while good content is important, it can’t work without an awareness of context.

In other words: you can ignore the people; but rest assured, they are not going to ignore you.

May 27, 2018/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Audience Outreach, Social Media

CASE STUDY: Using Facebook Live to Bring People Together

Last week, I celebrated the birth of my new son. In Jewish tradition, a boy has a bris at day 8. A bris is a short ceremony where he is welcomed into the community and has his name announced to world (amongst other things 😳).

My wife and I live in Madison, WI. Madison is our chosen home — neither of us have families in town. My parents and her mom were able to join us in person. But that still left a lot of loved ones who couldn’t make it in for the occasion.

In the days leading up, my brother asked if I could Skype him in for the event. I said sure. Then one of my cousins made the same request and I realized that Skype was not going to work.

I wanted to stream the celebration for my family, but I didn’t want it to be open to the general public.

So here’s what I did: I created a private Facebook event and invited in those we wanted to join us remotely. This included family and friends in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, California and even Germany. It included two grandmothers in their 80s/90s who were both thrilled about becoming great-grandmothers!

Once RSVPing that they would attend, I instructed the invitees to head over to the event page at the appropriate time. I then used Facebook Live to stream the entire ceremony directly into the private group.

They could all access it, and I didn’t have to worry about anyone else joining in, or someone sharing it to their networks and it becoming a public affair (I set the privacy settings to only stream to those “attending” the event).

The stream was one-way, but not the conversation.
I set up the phone on a tripod near our in-home guests. When everything was over, I went back and looked at the video. There were about 15 cyber-guests, but they had left a combined total of 99 comments! So after everyone had gone home and the kitchen was cleaned, we got to re-live the event through their comments.

One of my cousins even let me know that she wasn’t able to make it to the event in real time, but that she was able to watch it later that day on her own time.

As can I and any of the other invitees!

What’s The Point?
If you read my blog regularly, you probably realize that this isn’t a typical post for me. It’s a bit more personal than I normally delve. That said, the point of this post isn’t really to tell you about my intimate family affair. The real point of this post is the importance of understanding the tools in your digital toolkit.

My brother and cousin wanted me to Skype them in. Which would have worked for one or two people… but not a dozen!

Facebook Live would have been great for those we wanted to join us, but it would have been hard to keep it intimate and private.

A private Facebook event was a perfect solution to bring in the family, without having to broadcast it to the world.

Everyone who attended raved about how “fun” it was and how great it was that they got to be there. Never mind the fact that they were all thousands of miles away. They all had a front row seat, right alongside our parents and our local guests. And not only that, they could chat with each other throughout, without worrying about disturbing the ceremony.

In the words of one of my aunts: “This is all so cool that we can be so connected!”

While this story is about how I brought my family together, ask yourself when such tools might be helpful for bringing together your audience or community. Maybe you have an upcoming meeting you want to share with top volunteers. Or you want to announce a new product line to your VIP customers. Perhaps you want to give access to some of your fans, without opening up your conversation to the world. Our smartphones and social media platforms are full of amazing tools. Understanding them might just be the difference between bringing your community together… or not.

Want to start using Facebook Live, but not sure how to get started. Check out my free Facebook Live Checklist.

Not sure which digital tool might be right for your upcoming event. Be in touch and let’s figure it out together!

March 26, 2018/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Facebook, Instagram, Social Media, Twitter

Three Exciting Social Media Updates

I always say that the only constant in social media is change. I don’t write to tell you every time any little thing changes on a social channel — if I did you’d hear from me literally dozens of times per week. But not every update is worthy of a blog post or an email.

Recently though, a few exciting updates have rolled out that are worth sharing.

Instagram Hashtags
You can now “follow” a hashtag on Instagram, just like you would follow an account.

Once you follow a hashtag, Instagram will include top posts using it directly into your feed.

To follow a hashtag, simply search for it on Instagram.

Then click “follow.”

Then you will start seeing relevant content showing up in your feed.

Twitter Threads
I’m very excited about this update, although it’s a bit hard to follow Twitter’s logic. They recently doubled the character length for tweets from 140-280, thus making threads, and therefore this update, much less relevant. But they’re not irrelevant, so it’s still an exciting update.If you aren’t familiar with the concept of threads, check out this blog post where I explain what they are and how they work (along with a bunch of other fun Twitter tricks and tips).

Before, when you created a tweet thread, you had to keep responding to previous tweets. Which is fine, but can be clunky. If you don’t reply to the most recent tweet in your thread, they get out of order and your thread becomes hard to follow. It can take a few moments for your tweet to post, meaning you have to sit tight with your thoughts, waiting for it to catch up.

Now if you want to create a tweet thread, simply start typing your tweet. Below, next to the “tweet” button, you will see a plus. Click it and Twitter will open up another tweet for you. Keep going until you are finished and then you can send them all as a single unit.

BIG IMPROVEMENT, even if it’s a little less relevant that it might have been a few months ago.

Facebook Stories
Facebook Stories aren’t new, but they have pretty much been getting ignored. Stories were Facebook’s response to Snapchat. They are small pieces of content — pictures, short videos or text — that disappear after 24 hours.They have all the fun Snapchat-style filters built in, along with a lot of other fun tools. Spend a few minutes in there and you will find tons of fun toys. And they are updated regularly.

While Stories aren’t new, what is new is that they are now available to Brand Pages. (Until recently, only personal pages could create Stories.)

To access Facebook Stories for a Brand Page, you can use the new Facebook Creator app. Or, open the Facebook app on your phone or tablet (currently, Stories only work via mobile), and go to your Brand Page. Underneath where you it lets you “write something,” click “create story.”

Once you have finished creating your tiny, disappearing masterpiece, add it to your Story.

Then anyone who likes your page will see it at the top of their Facebook page anytime they login for the next 24 hours. It’s a great way to get in front of your audience and to cut through the clutter of the newsfeed.

Quick note: you can also use Stories for Groups, and Events for which you have said you are attending. The Event feature in particular has the potential to be huge, in my opinion. Once people start using them, it will give everyone at a party, a concert, an event, etc. a way to create content and see what everyone around them is doing in real time. The engagement possibilities for that one are HUGE!

Those are the three social media updates I’m most excited about at the moment. Your turn — any to add?

December 13, 2017/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Brand Management, Social Media

McDonald’s Botches Black Friday; Recovers With Style

Social media moves fast. You need a good strategy, but also countless cute/clever/funny/helpful/interesting pieces of content day in and day out to make it work. If you are doing it regularly, you are going to occasionally make mistakes.

The majority of the time, you will notice your error before anyone else does and you can delete your tweet or edit your post. Sometimes though, the only option is a response.

In preparation for Black Friday, McDonald’s sent the following tweet into the world:

WHOOOOOOOOOPS!

This wasn’t a typo or someone hitting send too fast. This was someone copy and pasting a note from an internal document, throwing it into Twitter or a third party scheduler, and letting it fly.

They didn’t even wait until Black Friday to send it — the tweet went live on Thanksgiving.

Now if you run a small business or manage your band or nonprofit’s social media account, you could simply delete this tweet. If you’re a behemoth like McDonald’s, not so much.

You do have a few options though. You can:

Apologize.
Call the FBI and claim your account has been hacked.
Blame an intern or member of your staff.
Respond with something awesome!

McDonald’s went with option four, tweeting this the following morning:

While the follow up tweet didn’t get nearly as many retweets or likes as the original tweet, it did appease the internet, which is always hungry for a social media scandal.

You need look no further than the responses to see that the follow up fully appeased the Twitterverse. This time.

But user beware: if you or your team require coffee to start the day, then by all means, have it on hand! If you are McDonald’s that really shouldn’t be a problem. 🙄 🙄 🙄

November 27, 2017/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

Social Media, Twitter

Six New(ish) Ways to Get More Out Of Your Tweets, As Well As A User Hack Worth Knowing

Since writing this post, Twitter has expanded the length of tweets from 140-280. While you might need NEED these hacks as often, every one of them is still worth understanding and will offer you a more complete toolkit when using Twitter.

Twitter has also updated the way that you can create tweet threads. I wrote a blog post about the update. You can find it here.

A while back, Jack and his Twitter crew talked about massively expanding Twitter’s iconic 140 character limit to 10,000! Predictably, the Twitterverse went crazy. So Jack relented. Sort of.

While an individual tweet is still limited to 140 characters, Twitter has redefined what counts as a character. So while everything might still look/feel the same, you actually have quite a bit more room to get your thoughts out in a tweet these days than in the Twitter of old.

Many of these changes happened below the radar of the non-avid Twitter user. So I thought it would be a good time for a round-up.

Twitter is changing all the time. If I missed any new functionalities, let me know. I’d love to add them to my list.

1) GIFS

A GIF, or a Graphics Interchange Format, is a short clip of a video or an animation set to repeat itself on an endless loop.

Twitter now has a built in GIF library. If you haven’t played with yours yet, you are missing out on some serious storytelling fun! Why type “Sad!” when you can demonstrate it in a fun video format.

To access the library, open up Twitter and start composing a new tweet. Then simply click on the GIF icon.

This will work on your computer, your tablet or your smartphone.

Twitter will automatically populate a wide-array of GIF emotions to search through.

Click on the appropriate emotion and scroll through the many, many options. Or, search for the emotion/concept of your choice.

Once you have the perfect GIF, select it and it will be added as media to your tweet.

And per the theme of this post — it will not count against your character count!

Please note though, you cannot add a GIF to a tweet containing any other media, or as part of a Quote Tweet (more on Quote Tweets below).

2) POLLS

Another fun option, built write into your tweet, is the ability to conduct a poll.

Once you have selected the option, you can input a series of “answers” to whatever question you choose to pose in your tweet.

The default (and minimum option) is two “choices,” but click “+ Add a choice” and you can tack on a third or even a fourth.

When this fun tool was first rolled out, the only setting was for your poll to last for one day. But now, you can set your own length, ranging from 5 minutes to 7 days. To do that, just click on the poll length’s default “1 day” and set your desired length.

Obviously, since it’s on this list, a poll doesn’t count against your Tweet’s character count.

If someone takes your poll, they will see the breakdown of votes by percentage. Voting is anonymous. You won’t know who took your poll, nor will anyone else. But it is a fun way to engage your audience and let them tell you directly what they think about any given question.

Quick note: each “choice” is limited to 25 characters. Prepare accordingly. Also, like GIFs, you can’t insert a poll into a Quote Tweet or a tweet with media.

3) LINKS

Once upon a time, every character in a link counted towards your character count. Obviously, this was extremely problematic — some links themselves are more than 140 characters!

The original solution to this problem was the link shortener. bit.ly is the most famous, but there are others.

Twitter eventually realized how untenable it was to have a platform that had become synonymous with news, forcing users to employ workarounds in order to share most news articles. So while you weren’t looking, they changed the way they count link characters.

Whether it’s 12 characters or 1200 (eek — that would be quite a long url), all links now count as 23 characters. So keep bit.ly bookmarked for some of its other fun features. But never again waste time shortening a link just to save space. Twitter has got you covered.

4A) PICTURES

Just like GIFs and polls don’t count against your character limit, pictures and videos are likewise exempted from your count. You can add up to four pictures to any tweet that isn’t a Quote Tweet.

Use your pictures to help tell you story.

But don’t just tweet pictures. Be sure to always tell your audience why you are tweeting them. It should be easy when you still have ALL of your precious 140 of your characters to play with!

4B) TAGGING PEOPLE

Most regular Twitter users know that they can add pictures to a tweet (although I’m not sure how many realize their picture(s) aren’t counting against their character count).

This is a tool however that I’ve found few people are aware of. And if they are, I find many don’t truly appreciate its power.

When you add a picture (or 2, 3 or 4), you can “tag” people who are in the picture. I put tag in quotes because they don’t actually have to be in the photo for you to tag them.

To do so is simple: after you add your picture, click “Who’s in this photo?”

You can then search for any Twitter user by name or handle and tag them in your photo. It’s important to note that you can’t differentiate which picture a particular user is in — you can just tag them in your pictures, generally. But the coolest part about this: you can add up to ten users to any tweet! That should help you save you a whole lot of space since now you don’t have to write out all those handles within your tweet in order to tag them.

Quick note: some users have privacy settings that won’t allow them to be tagged in pictures. You can still tag them in your tweet, you just can’t tag them in your picture.

5) QUOTE TWEETS

I mentioned this concept earlier, with the promise to cover it shortly. This is a fun one.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to retweet something, you had to do it sort of manually. You would take the tweet’s content, add an RT before it and then send it to your users. This was problematic for numerous reasons, the biggest being tweet length. If a tweet was already 140 characters you couldn’t add an RT. And even if there were three characters to spare, you might not be able to add in the original sender’s handle. That led to awkward MTs, or modified tweets (if you don’t know this acronym, here’s a bunch more you also might not yet know), where you retweeted an edited version of what someone else had already said. You could modify for length, content or accuracy, but whatever your reason, it certainly complicated the heart of the RT.

So Twitter adapted. They changed the way RTs work. You still occasionally see old school RTs, but it’s rare.

Then Twitter added the Quote Tweet.

When you go to retweet on your tablet or your smartphone, you’ll see be asked if you want to Retweet or Quote Tweet. Or your computer, you’ll have the option to Retweet, or to “Add a comment…”

You can add a full 140 characters to your Quote Tweet. This can be a great tool to save space. If someone tweeted something and you want to expand on it, you don’t need to start with an explanation. You can even Quote Tweet one of your own tweets, in order to continue a thought. Quote Tweets are a great tool for building out longer thoughts. Take advantage of them!

6) REPLIES

Similar to Quote Tweets, Twitter changed the way that replies work. It used to be that when you hit reply, Twitter automatically added the handle of the person who sent the original tweet, as well as any other handle tagged within.

But Twitter realized that people were struggling with what came to be known as “tipping canoes:” Twitter conversations that were so full of handles that there was no place left to actually add your thoughts.

So now when you hit reply, the original sender and all tagged handles will still automatically be tagged in your response, but they will be tagged outside of your actual tweet. Meaning you can respond to one handle, or a big group, without worrying about tipping that Twitter canoe.

So let’s say that instead of Quote Tweeting a response to @BarackObama, I replied to him.

I still have all 140 characters for my response.

Likewise, if I reply to @JimmyKimmel while he is thanking @SenatorCollins for doing the right thing on healthcare, they will both be tagged without taking away from my character count.

If you want to remove someone from your tags, just clicks on the list of names and you can deselect as you desire.

But note, you can’t deselect the original sender’s handle. You are stuck with them. Don’t want to mention them? Then maybe don’t reply to their tweet!

BONUS) THREAD TWEETS

Okay, that is six ways that Twitter now offers for us to get more of each and every tweet.

But the Twitterverse still wasn’t satisfied and they are notorious for finding clever workarounds to problems that bother them.

Sometimes what you have to say won’t fit into 140 characters, no matter how many other tools you have at your disposal. At that point, you can thread together your tweets to tell a longer story.

Anytime you reply to a tweet, from anyone including yourself, Twitter will connect those two tweets with a blue line.

Notice that @nycsouthpaw is employing both a Quoted Tweet and a Thread in this example.

So if you have a longer story to tell, break it up into tweetable chunks and then share it, one piece at a time. But be careful — they have to be in the right order, or they will be impossible to follow.

To do this is simple: send your first tweet. Then reply to it. Then reply to that one. Then that one. And so on.

FYI — Threading tweets like this is sometimes referred to as a Tweet Storm.

There are many different ways people choose to differentiate a tweet from a threaded tweet. After all, your followers won’t know there’s more to come if you don’t tell them.

The most common approaches are as follows:

Ellipses (either at the end of each tweet OR at the end of each tweet AND the beginning of each one that follows)
1/, 2/, 3/… x/x
1/x, 2/x, 3/x… x/x
1/, 2/, 3/… <end>
Sometimes people just write:
- That’s it
- I’m done
- All finished
- Or the close-off of their choice.

If you are going to thread tweets, find a way to clarify it for your audience. It’ll help them follow along.

CONCLUSION

So that’s six new(ish) ways to get more of your tweets and a bonus user hack you should know about.

Do you have any additional tips or tricks you’ve found to get more out of Twitter? Respond in the comments and/or share them with me on Twitter. I want to hear from you!

Want to learn more about any of the above concepts, or anything else about this often-perplexing platform? Book a class today to become a Super Twitterer.

September 25, 2017/0 Comments/by Josh Klemons

I’m a digital marketing & social media speaker, trainer & presenter

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