Emerging Digital Advocacy Lessons Amidst Protest

We are all navigating conversations with family, friends, and now co-workers in the aftermath of the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd.

These feelings (anger, sadness, outrage...to name a few) are not new. I remember well the Summer of 2016, when I stepped into what seemed like a parallel universe and found myself helping to coach co-workers through hosting an internal panel on Black Lives Matter at BCW (then Cohn & Wolfe) and simultaneously leading a session for my MBA cohort at NYU Stern.

The comparisons to Ferguson and the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s are endless, but there are moments when I agree when people say it feels different this time. I've always balanced times like these by allowing some time to feel what is happening and then quickly burying myself in the work. After weeks of feeling far too much, it was time to dig deeper into the work, and when I did, I saw several digital advocacy moments emerging from this time of protest worth noting.

Babynames.com

As the protests around the world and supportive corporate statements began to pickup speed, so came the criticism. Babynames.com was one group that landed in the crosshairs.

Some called the move to list the names of the most prominent murders over the last 60 years shallow because it was not tied to action, but I applaud their move because they found a way to AUTHENTICALLY hit the first stage of the advocacy funnel - awareness. And they did so in a way that was unexpected. They chose to speak out, not with an executive statement but with a thoughtful content piece that is truly connected to what they do.

Lesson: Sometimes the best move is not a statement but content that authentically ties to your business. A great next step for Babynames.com would be to explore the racial/cultural popularity of and stereotypes surrounding names. Moving in this direction could be a major interest and relevance driver for their business going forward.

Twitter

Long the rallying place for conversation and debate, especially on issues, Twitter leaned into this moment in time in a noteworthy way. In addition to their corporate commitments and making Juneteenth a holiday before many followed suit, Twitter launched a campaign elevating the voices of Black users talking about racism and inequality in yet another powerful, unexpected way: on billboards in major cities across the country.

“We wanted to show up in the cities that have become the epicenters of the protests in the past few weeks, places that have become rallying points for the outcry of #BlackLivesMatter and the overwhelming demand for equity,” said God-is Rivera, global director of culture and community for Twitter. “But we didn’t want to show up in these places as Twitter; we wanted to amplify the perspectives and thoughts of people who are sharing these intense feelings about what’s happening in the world today. And we wanted them to show up in their own words.”

Lesson: There is tremendous power in elevating and amplifying the voices of others, especially your own users. In the marketing world, this would be seen as user-generated content (UGC), but in this context, Twitter is giving power and an amplified platform to a group that often feels unheard and also like no one is speaking to them and their issues.

A great next step for Twitter would be to explore and explain how groups use the platform on micro and macro levels to promote justice and equality. Moments like this make me think back to my Socially Diverse days. I would have definitely spent time digging into the surfacing K-pop advocacy wave on Twitter surrounding political rallies and the #whitelivesmatter hashtag.

#ShareTheMicNow

I remember the morning when I opened Instagram and first noticed #ShareTheMicNow. I was first shocked to see this thoughtful campaign that seemed to appear out of thin air, and then I was in awe of the layers involved.

From the mouths of #ShareTheMicNow leaders:

“When the world listens to women, it listens to white women...for far too long, Black women’s voices have gone unheard, even though they’ve been using their voices loudly for centuries to enact change.”

The conversations we are having today about allyship is dominated by the importance of listening, but I think the roots of this campaign's message is also tied to long running conversations about feminism and the need to make room for black women.

The mechanics of it were amazing. Over 40 pairs of women, with a reach of more than 300 million followers, were set to share the mic with the aim of amplifying black voices working toward change in America’s racist systems. By design, these women would be able to reach an audience they previously didn't have access to.

Participants included everyone from co-founder and Endeavor CMO Bozoma Saint John to actress Julia Roberts, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Soccer’s Alex Morgan, model Ashley Graham, comedian Chelsea Handler, and designer Diane Von Furstenberg. These are just seven of the prominent women who took part. There is no brand to applaud here, only the founders of the activation, but that unearths the lesson.

Lesson: Influencer takeovers are not new, but I struggle to think of a more timely conversation run through social channels with this size, scale, and structure. Folks, this is the present/future of advocacy campaigns.

With the model and framework #ShareTheMicNow provided, you can move beyond focusing so heavily on the need to have one central event with a massive audience to get your message across. Instead, you can match your advocates with people and entities with an audience (aka influencers & stakeholders) to achieve the same goals in a more authentic way.

The journey towards justice is far from over, but these digital advocacy moments are a welcome step in the right direction.