With the recent momentum around TikTok being banned in the U.S. (I still don’t think it’ll happen, but you never know!), I got curious: How many Minnesota-based companies are really ON TikTok? In other words: How many companies would this potential ban really affect if TikTok went dark in the U.S.? For the last few years, we’ve heard a steady drumbeat of advice from social media experts encouraging brands to hop on TikTok. However, I’ve always thought that was foolish advice–at least broadly speaking–for a couple key reasons. First, legal. We’re seeing this right now with the banning conversat ..read more

Yesterday, I gave my annual social media marketing trends presentation to a group of 100+ communicators and marketers across the country. I’m posting it here today in hopes it helps spark creativity for you and your team in 2023. See the full webinar and slide deck below. A couple things to point out as you watch the video or review the deck. First, I am NOT a trend expert. However, I do read a lot each week. I have to–for this blog, for our podcast, for my e-newsletter, and for class at the University of St. Thomas where I teach as an adjunct professor. And I love keeping my finger on the pul ..read more

Earlier this week, Hootsuite came out with its 2023 Social Media Trends report. As part of that report, their very first trend: “TikTok will take over the world.” And while that may be true from a user perspective (user numbers and time spent on TikTok continue to climb), from a brand perspective, the picture is more murky in my view. Many midsized and large companies I’ve worked with over the years have big-time legal and privacy concerns about the app–to the point where that is absolutely what’s stopping them from using it. Other companies see TikTok’s relevance, but just don’t have the peop ..read more

Tell me if one of these scenarios sounds familiar: You’re a mid-sized or small PR, advertising or marketing agency owner and have a small and junior team heading up social for your clients. They’re great but still could use a little guidance from time to time on all things social. And they could use some help keeping up with all the changes and updates that are happening across social on a weekly basis. You’re a marketing or comms director at a mid-sized company. You’re either a one-person band, or a very small team. And, one of your many responsibilities is social media. You know enough to b ..read more

Early January each year means one thing for me: Developing my annual “coffee list!” I’ve been at this (formally and publicly, at least) for 6+ years now. I always have a lot of fun putting this list together, but a few points of clarification first. I build this list each year as an exercise in stretching my boundaries for meeting new people. There is no pressure to meet with me. If folks don’t want to get together, that’s perfectly fine. Second, there is no hidden agenda. This is purely a way for me to meet more new smart people across the digital and social industry here in MSP. That’s it. N ..read more

For many brands, LinkedIn is a key social media channel–especially B2B brands, where LinkedIn can be a key awareness, engagement and even lead driver. For the most part, companies are squarely focused on one audience when it comes to their LinkedIn content: customers. And according to the data (and audit results I’ve done recently) I see recently, one audience is almost always being overlooked. Employees. LinkedIn says a whopping 30% of a brand page’s engagement comes from employees. That same LinkedIn survey also says employees are 14 times more likely to share content from their employers th ..read more

For the last few years one message has been loud-and-clear when it comes to executive leadership online: We want our leaders to speak up on key societal topics. The Edelman Trust Barometer, one of the long-time key reports in our industry, claimed this year that “when considering a job, 60% of respondents said they expected the CEO to speak publicly about controversial social and political issues that I care about.” And we’ve all seen similar stats and figures just like that shared across different media outlets. However, a recent Morning Consult survey paints a bit different picture. And may ..read more

We all know there’s a massive shift going on with social content formats: From static photos and text to short-form videos (i.e., Reels). Of course, this has been driven by TikTok. But over the past year, Instagram has prioritized its TikTok lookalike, Reels, and brands have taken notice. In fact, some brands have almost moved to a Reels-only mentality when it comes to Insta. Just look at what Target is doing. 9 of its last 10 posts have been Reels. And 18 of its last 20. They’re hardly alone. 17 of Sephora’s last 21 Insta posts have been Reels. 18 of Red Bulls’ last 21 posts have been Reels ..read more

A few weeks ago, Ad 2 hosted a great event (led by former Tommie, Chloe Lewis)–a Women’s Leadership Panel. I did not attend, but the event featured a number of women leaders talking about their career progressions and encouraging others to seek the curiosity, bravery and creativity needed to drive successful careers–and lives (my educated guess based on the posts I saw from the event). I love the premise of this event–give successful women business leaders in our industry the floor to talk about how they did it and (again, guessing here) how it was more messy than you think. And, most importan ..read more

What are you using instead of Twitter now? That’s the question du jour right now, isn’t it? Seems like almost everyone that’s been using Twitter for any length of time is hedging bets against the possibility that Mr. Musk may run the platform straight into the ground (for the record, I believe Twitter, in some form, will always exist, but that’s a different post). That’s meant a lot of people are trying out a lot of different, new social media platforms. Hive. Post. Plurk (yes, Plurk!). But most seemed enamored, for the moment, with Mastodon. I was curious. So I decided to give it a shot and e ..read more