It's tricky
Just Another Day in Social Media. 😉
Just a thought — if Tim Hortons' celebrity ambassador Justin Bieber is looking to do a cover of a song, may I suggest Somebody's watching me. That's because it turns out the app for the popular coffee chain has been keeping an eye on its customers — without their knowledge. A report by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found that the app tracked the geolocation data of its customers without their consent, and used that data to serve up ads and promote its products. Tim's has agreed to delete the data (bit late for that). Meanwhile, the federal government introduced a new privacy bill that aims to give Canadians more control over their personal data. Yup, that should fix it. 🤪
Here are today's top stories:
Celebrating a special date or holiday? Here's a handy checklist
Facebook wants to be more like TikTok, says a leaked memo
Snapchat is considering a paid subscription model
And a viral end to an old friend (or foe, not sure)
Read on ⬇️
Check It...
National Nitrogen Ice Cream Day. Yellow Pig Day. Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day. Yup, there's pretty much a day for everything. Don't believe me? Just check out this online calendar. And as a brand, there is a great opportunity to be a part of the conversation on special days that relate to the work you do, as well as bigger holidays, such as Canada Day.
But there's actually a lot of work that goes into creating a post that hits right, and creates the engagement you want. Don't do that work, and at a minimum you'll be busy for the day dealing with comments. And worse-case scenario, you could do major damage to your brand. Here's a checklist to help you get ready for any holiday and special date...
✅ Do You Have a Calendar? It all starts with a calendar of special dates that you can reference well ahead of each date. If you don't have a calendar, you can easily put one together using Excel or Word, or even a Wiki in Teams — whatever works best for you and your team. Consider including any special dates that are relevant to your brand, as well as national dates (like National Indigenous Peoples Day), and milestones for your brand (anniversaries, etc.)
✅ How Early Are You Starting the Conversation? For bigger holidays/dates, I suggest giving teams/managers a heads up at least 2-3 weeks in advance. Perhaps that means getting it on the agenda at any social media-related meetings, or in one-on-one meetings with a manager. Not only will no one be surprised, but it can help with brainstorming images/text. This also gives you lots of time to get text approved, if that's an important step in your organization. There is nothing worse than trying to rush an important post the day before.
✅ Are You Reading the Room? Some holidays will have a major undercurrent that you need to be aware of. For example, Canada Day may seem straightforward. But it's actually a tricky one because of the age of the country. Some will tell you Canada is 155 years in 2022. But the Indigenous community were here thousands of years before that. So when you're prepping your posts, it's important to be aware of context.
✅ Are You Reading the News? Since we're talking about Canada Day, let's talk about the trucker convoy that happened earlier this year. Canadian flags were flying everywhere! And it honestly felt like the flag took on a slightly different meaning, at least for this group. It was recently reported that the convoy is planning to return to Ottawa for Canada Day (and the summer). So, you may want to start thinking about your Canada Day post now and how you plan to share pride of Canada amid this added context.
✅ Did You Do a Hashtag Check? Make sure that the hashtag you are using is the correct one (and by correct, I mean the one that is most commonly being used). This also gives you a chance to make sure the hashtag hasn't been co-opted by some other movement. On a related side note: Give any memes/emojis a quick check before using them as well; you never know when one has changed meaning or been co-opted.
✅ Are You Making it All About You? Sure, special days are a great way to join a conversation. But just make sure that you aren't making it all about you. It should respectfully reflect the community that you are talking about, and offer valuable insight or information. Never jump on a holiday just because you think that's what you need to do.
✅ Does it Feel Genuine? I have some clients that make a point of putting work into marking special holidays, and other clients that have no interest at all in doing this. There is no right or wrong — it just has to be true to you/your brand. Otherwise, people can tell you're just doing it just to do it.
✅ Are You Helping Your Future Self? Whenever I put a lot of work into a special post, I save it in a folder for the next year. You may not want to use the exact same wording or images year over year, but at the very least it will give you a jump start on brainstorming and should reduce resources (have I mentioned how much I love efficiencies ❤️).
SOCIAL SNACKS
May We Introduce... Face-Tok
A leaked memo reported on by Alex Heath at The Verge suggests that Facebook wants to become even more like TikTok (so, go beyond Reels and the test of a full-screen Home Feed, etc.). The platform will no longer prioritize posts from people you know, but instead plans to start recommending posts from people you don't know (like TikTok's FYP). According to the memo delivered to Facebook employees, the company also plans to reintegrate the Messenger app back into FB to mimic the messaging feature on TikTok. This isn't totally surprising given that Facebook's MO with competitors is typically: buy, steal or kill. The big question is whether it's already too late to do any of these.
Are We All Going to Be Subscribers Now?
Snapchat is considering a paid subscription model called Snapchat+, according to a recent report by CNN. Details on specific features and costs are fuzzy right now. But it may just indicate an overall shift given that tech stocks are tanking and companies are trying to find new ways to make money. Snapchat is also not the first to offer a subscription model. Last year, Twitter launched Twitter Blue. For $3.49 a month, users get access to special features, such as Undo Tweet. It allows you set a timer of up to 30 seconds so you can review a post before it goes out. Change your mind and you can just hit "undo." There are other features, such as Reader Mode and Bookmarks, but as a subscriber myself, the timer is the one I find most useful.
Managing social media is hard enough — staying up-to-date shouldn't be. Level up your social media knowledge in minutes a week. Sign up for our newsletter today!
ICYMI
🔴 Instagram will start nudging teens away from content they continuously browse through [The Verge]
🔴 LinkedIn offers tips on how to stay safe on the platform [LinkedIn Blog]
🔴 TikTok moves US traffic to Oracle servers, amid new claims user data was accessed from China [TechCrunch]
🔴 YouTube reports that 1.5 billion users now engage with YouTube Shorts content each month [Social Media Today]
IF WE "MUSK"
It's unclear if Elon Musk is going to go ahead with his plans to purchase Twitter, but he still met with staff last week. In the online meeting, he set out some pretty ambitious goals — like getting to 1 billion daily active users — and warned fearful employees that revenue isn't great right now. But don't worry, anyone who is "a significant contributor" won't have to worry about layoffs, he said. Good to know. And for anyone worried about hate speech, as long as its legal, its a-ok in his book. CNBC has a full rundown.
RIP, Internet Explorer
A Viral End to an Old Friend (or Foe, Not Sure)
"He was a good tool to download other browsers." That's what's written on a tombstone created by a South Korean software engineer, who marked the end of an era as Microsoft pulled the plug on its Internet Explorer web browser last Wednesday. Internet Explorer was launched in 1995, but was buggy and lost ground to Google Chrome. Many had a love-hate relationship with the browser, including Jung Ki-young, who paid $330 for the tombstone. "It was a pain in the ass, but I would call it a love-hate relationship because Explorer itself once dominated an era," he told Reuters. And after a picture of the tombstone went viral, he said he had another reason to thank Explorer — for helping him make a "world-class joke." I bet Microsoft wishes it had thought of this...
Hey, congrats — you made it to the bottom of the e-newsletter!
If you really liked it, why not forward it to a friend. 💌