Madelynn Simpson

Social Media Blog

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#SEE10DO10 with COVID-19

There is no question that social media usage is increasing during this time. With being quarantined to our homes, we have even more time to endlessly scroll around on social media, and even more time to interact with what is popping up on our feeds. 

Instagram stories have been a great place during this pandemic to provide followers with inspiration, laughter and challenges. One being the #SEE10DO10 challenge that involves a user videotaping themselves doing 10 push-ups and then tagging others to do the same and tag others, spreading the challenge from user to user. While we have all these fun challenges online to participate in...what are we as social media users doing to spread accurate knowledge and tips about staying safe during COVID-19?

According to the article from Scientific American, “social media is fertile ground for targeting people with reliable information.” So how can we do this? How can we use our online creativity to help spread accurate information just as we are able to have #SEE10DO10 spread as what the article states as a “wildfire.” 

Here are some ways that Scientific American gives to enhance the way we use social media through this pandemic:

#SEE10DO10 pertaining to things to do while staying home, tips to stay safe at the grocery store, etc.

Repost information only from credible sources

#SAFEHANDS videos (posting a video washing your hands for 20 seconds and challenging others to do the same)

Follow physicians in the medical field 

Read and share academic articles on COVID-19

Support healthcare workers online 

These are just a few ways that we can use social media during this time, and increase the accuracy and purpose behind the content we post or share.

How can you change the way you use social media during this time? 

Sources

Iwai, Yoshiko. “Harnessing Social Media for the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 7 Apr. 2020, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/harnessing-social-media-for-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

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Instagram Bringing Back Our Inner-Child

Without a doubt, it is clear that in the midst of our world’s crisis that we are even more encouraged to open our phones and scroll endlessly on our social media apps. But is this a bad thing? Yesterday, (March 24, 2020) I opened up Instagram as if I was back in middle school again. The endless Instagram story challenges, the “until tomorrow” posts and the QA’s flooded my feed as I watched my community (and myself!) participate in online trends that were popular when I was younger. To fill us in more on the “until tomorrow” posts, this was a challenge that according to USA Today’s writer, Ryan W. Miller, consisted “of people posting embarrassing photos of themselves and captioning them “until tomorrow” with no other context.”  The way that this trend spreads is by people liking the “until tomorrow” posts then the original poster will according to Miller, “direct message the person telling them to post their own photo and leave it on their profile for a day, or ... until tomorrow.” 

With over 280,000 “until tomorrow” posts on Instagram, the trend is bringing light to social media as an app that showcases mostly high-quality, aesthetic and business related content is lighting up as people are freely exposing themselves, and bringing laughter to their viewers. 

Personally, this trend has made me feel nostalgic, and has reminded me that we all are not so “picture perfect” all the time! It has let me into other lives and made Instagram feel more natural and authentic. While we are living in a world with so many emotions and concerns flying around us, it is important to connect with our community, and use social media to encourage and let our followers in on what life is looking like for us these days. 

Sources 

Miller, Ryan W. ( 2020, March 25). USA Today. “Seeing ‘until tomorrow’ all over Instagram? Here’s what it means.” Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2020/03/25/until-tomorrow-instagram-meaning-challenge/5078959002/

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Instagram Stories Take-Over

By now, anyone who is actively on Instagram is aware that the addition of Instagram stories has become a big feature on it’s platform that is used quite frequently by users. As an active Instagram user, I have realized that most of my time on the app is actually spent looking at instagram stories of my followers as well as creating stories for my own personal account. How crazy is that? The app that was created for users to post images and videos to their home page for followers to view indefinitely (unless deleted) is being taken over by stories that last up to twenty-four hours. And now with he addition of highlights, a user can take archived stories and add them to highlights that are visible on one’s home page.

According to a Sprout Social blog by Brent Barnhart, “Stories are no longer seen as a novelty. At this point, they’re a staple of Instagram itself.” One feature that was intended to add to the overall picture of Instagram is now taking a seat at being one of the main reasons people open Instagram. If stories are taking over, how is this helping businesses? Well Sprout social helps us out here by giving us five types of stories that businesses can try: 

How-To’s & Tutorials 

Sharing User Generated Content

Behind-the-Scene-Stories 

Time-Sensitive Offers, Deals and Promos

Special Announcements

All of these tips offered from Barnhart are great strategies that businesses, influencers and users can implement into their stories as they are all ways of letting viewers in on a brand and what it has to offer. They are quick to the eye, and are most likely relevant to the time of which a viewer would view the content. For me personally, I post graphics for my organizations, tag friends in birthday pictures and show highlights of my personal day on my stories. I do this because these events are more time sensitive, and really only need to be viewed on a specific day rather than clogging up my feed. While this new staple of Instagram is growing, questions to reflect on further for this topic:

How are stories hurting brands? How is not using them hurting brands?

What is the future for Instagram?  Can stories truly take-over?

Do Instagram stories help gain the audience’s trust?

Sources:

Barnhart, Brent. (2020, January 25). Sproutsocial.com.“Instagram Stories: Best Practices for Your Brand.” Retrieved from: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stories/

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Goodbye Models, Hello ROLE-Models!

Aerie, a lingerie and apparel store, is keeping it real this year with all things branding! Aerie has recently brought back the #AerieREAL campaign that strives for it’s audience to relate to the models being showcased on their social media platforms. This year, Aerie is making a statement by changing the term “models” to “ROLE-models.” 

What does this campaign look like?

The campaign is showcasing a group of women celebrities and activists that are creating and proclaiming the change they want to see, and breaking down stereotypes of what a model “should” look like. The campaign is investing $400,000 into twenty smaller grants that are to EMPOWER people that are creating change around the world. You can apply through the Aerie website under, “Role Models.”

Website Link: https://www.ae.com/aerie-real-life/role-models/

How is Aerie actually creating change in social media branding?

According to Tyler McCall from the article in, “Fashionista.com”, its Aerie’s goal “for every one of it’s customers to see themselves in every part of the brand.” The brand is following through with this mission by not only investing money into their customers that are wanting to participate in change, but taking action by investing in models that are representing the apparel as their true authentic selves. With a diverse group of women ROLE-models, Aerie is able to be more personable and relatable with their customers, and create a community of customers that want to have a voice in being #AerieREAL.

Sources

McCall, Tyler. (2020, January 23). Fashionista.com. Aerie Has Become the Go-To Brand Partner For Celebrities With A Mission.” Retrieved from https://fashionista.com/2020/01/aerie-real-role-models-2020 

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Authenticity in Social Media

Encountering authentic social media accounts brings a sigh of relief to me as we live in the day of age of altering appearances and experiences to our audiences. Cultivating an authentic appearance on our platforms seems to be looked at as more challenging, yet sticking to who we are/who the company is should actually allow us to easily create content as we don't have to spend time creating what we are not. 

Looking deeper into this topic, I discovered that many companies are starting to incorporate their employees into their platforms. Which for instance can look like employees posting highlight pictures of their work day, showcasing their favorite outfits from their store and even testimonies that could encourage the audience to work for or buy from their companies. What can this look like? Well as I did research on how to improve authenticity, I stumbled on an article that showcased how the department store, Macy’s, has their employees post pictures in Macy’s clothing and hashtag the posts with #macysstylecrew. This then opens the door for audiences to see what clothes look like on non-influencers, and now people can be linked to these styles from the official Macy’s page because of the hashtag.

The strategy to culitivate authenticity within companies can create a relatable environment for the company's audience. Instead of just communicating with a big company, we are opening doors to have more conversations with individual people.

Zumbach, Lauren. (2020, January 17). Chicago Tribune. Are you getting paid for that Instagram post? Companies tap employees to spread more ‘authentic’ message online. Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-employee-social-media-influencers-20200117-jv6zjtf5kndqbif65ca6dfj6ie-story.html