We’ve all heard of 🚩 flags, but do you know about “beige” flags? It’s a term that’s becoming popular on TikTok, and it refers to romantic partners who have habits that may be less than appealing (but not a dealbreaker). The New York Times has more.
In today’s newsletter:
Interview: Being Called In And Learning to Be a Better Ally
Research: Life on Social Media Platforms
Advice: What I Wish Someone Had Said to Me When I Was Starting Out
Being Called In
At the end of May, I created a LinkedIn post about why it’s important to talk about and support 2SLGBTQ+ and Indigenous communities year round — not just in June during Pride Month and Indigenous History Month. In response, Tim Campbell-Smith, a digital marketing consultant, speaker and trainer, reached out to me to “call me in” and share his concerns about the fact that while he agreed with what I was saying, I wasn’t actually doing this myself. My response: I completely agreed with him. Tim later shared a post about what happened.
Before this happened, I really only knew Tim as a LinkedIn connection. But after our online conversation, I thought this would be a great opportunity to really dig into this topic, because I think when you know better, you do better — and that goes for people, and companies. So I asked him if he would be interested in chatting, and I’m so happy he said yes.
Here’s how our conversation went:
What about that LinkedIn post made you want to reach out to me?
Quick background — June, as a queer person, I’m usually just pretty angry for most of the month, because I’m really over what we call Pride Washing, which is talking about Pride, integrating Pride into your stuff without actually doing the work to support the queer community. And I had gone through your posts and I hadn’t noticed anything supporting queer people for the previous year. So I thought, I’m going to say something. So I sent a DM saying, “Hey, love the sentiment of your post, but practice what you preach.” And you were very gracious in your response.
I have also committed to calling out companies when I know this is happening. But as a matter of principal I don’t call out small business owners. I just send a private message. I want you to do better. If you’re going to do this and get credit, I want you to do better.
So, when you talked about this in a follow-up post, you mentioned that when you hit “send,” you were a bit nervous.
Yeah. And so many reasons why. The big one: I’m fascinated by how people communicate with each other, and just communication practices in general. I am humble enough to admit that social media isn’t really a place to change minds, to change behaviours, statistically speaking. So, I was nervous out of the gate that I was fighting a losing battle. [Perhaps] this isn’t the right place. This might not be the right time. And to be honest, I also didn’t know you terribly well — am I just picking a fight? So, those were my immediate thoughts.
How did you feel reading my response?
So relieved! And then almost, ok — do not let this go to your head, but excited because I felt like I had discovered an ally. I don’t know if you’re queer, or anywhere on the rainbow spectrum. But once you were like, “you’re right, I can do better” and were you humble about it, I thought, ahhh, ok now I feel like we do have another ally in our corner and someone who is going to support the movement and do what they can.
Let’s talk about this concept of doing better.
Ironically, I used to think doing better was: always act — always do something. If a situation arises, always do something. But I will say, after two years of learning from a therapist, and a queer therapist, who is also involved in queer activism, she’s really taught me that rest is also a part of resistance, rest is also productive. So now I try to meet in the middle and say: Do good when you can, as you can. It even starts with something as simple as recognizing a situation where harm is being done to, in this case, a queer person. But we also need to talk about justice towards people of colour and Indigenous people. Even seeing something and saying “Hey, this is not ok.”
You mentioned that June makes you “angry.”
Knowing that organizations are just capitalizing on this because it leads to improved keyword search, and discoverability, and reach and brand equity sales, but they aren’t actually putting in the work, that sucks.
With my clients, I start talking about it in March. “Hey, if you’re thinking of doing something for Pride in June, you need to start right now and you need to talk about it right now.” Especially when it comes to issues of equity and inclusion, I don’t want my clients just talking about the struggles of people of colour just in February. If you’re going to celebrate Women’s Day in March, you’ve got to be talking about it in November. Always plan ahead, and put your money where your mouth is.
What else do you want brands to know?
Do right by the community. Ironically, I just recorded a video that’s going to go on my YouTube channel on what makes consultants useless, which is ironic because here we both are.
And in my research, and something I talk about in my video on my YouTube channel, a big thing that makes us useless is when we don’t have measurable outcomes. And I think the easiest way to measure what’s important is actually to establish what is important, and who it is important to.
If you’re going to stand in solidarity or support the queer community, you have to do something. Write a letter to your member of parliament. Donate to queer-friendly organizations. Actually decide on a measurable outcome and do that.
Choose your measurable outcomes, and your measurable change, and actually work towards that. And make sure it actually advances the people you’re trying to support.
Thank again to Tim for calling me in, taking the time to chat with me, and helping me to be a better ally. 😊
🧇 SOCIAL SNACK 🧇
Research: Life on Social Media Platforms
As a social media manager, there are always the ways that I think people are using social media platforms, and then there is the reality. And this latest research from the Pew Research Centre provides some key insights. They interviewed 23 U.S. adults in July 2022 who described themselves as “highly engaged users.” Based on their comments, this is (a very general) overview of what I took away from what they said:
Facebook is for family
Instagram is for friends (and sometimes, activism)
TikTok is for entertainment (and sometimes, activism and search)
YouTube is for learning
Twitter is for politics
Does this align with what you thought people were using these platforms for?
👉 UPCOMING WEBINAR
Don’t forget to join me on June 22nd for Social Media Metrics in 30 Minutes! You’ll learn about what to track, how to track (including some tips on tools), and how to share your metrics story. Hope to see you there!
ICYMI
Instagram may roll out its own AI chatbot in the near future [Engadget]
YouTube opens up a referral program for the Shorts Community [YouTube Blog]
Meta Verified is now in India, and will be coming to Canada soon [Meta Blog]
TikTok spotlights creators in its first-ever LGBTQ Pride Visionary Voices List [Mashable]
Pinterest announces partnership with Amazon to bring third-party ad demand to the platform [Pinterest Blog]
👏 EXCELLENT ADVICE
This definitely goes under the category of “things I wish I had known when I started in social media” (which is actually a pretty long list 🤦♀️).