Keeping It Currant: February 2024

Welcome to the 6th issue of Keeping It Currant, a newsletter by Social Currant & Girl and the Gov® focused on sharing insights on how to navigate the intersection of the creator economy and the political and social impact space. This issue includes:

• An invite to a State of the Union Happy Hour

• Three easy to use trends for political content

• Meta’s new political content policy

• A free UTM builder and full resource library to pull from

• Strategy guidance for merch collaborations

• Five paid campaign opportunities

…and so much more. Scroll to jump in…

ADD TO THE CAL

An upcoming creator event to add to your cal

STATE OF THE UNION CREATOR HAPPY HOUR

About: The trifecta, Social Currant, Center for American Progress, and Courage for America are hosting a State of the Union happy hour, bringing creators and friends of the creator economy together to watch the big event.

When: Thursday, March 7, 2024; 7:00-10:30pm EST

Where: Washington D.C. - address provided upon registration approval.

SOCIAL CURRANT CREATOR BRIEFING #5 – MEDIA LITERACY

About: The 5th creator briefing will be focused on media literacy and misinformation on social platforms. The conversations will be led by Dr. Brian Hughes, a research professor at American University & co-founder and associate director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL).

When: Thursday, March 14, 2024; 4:00-4:45pm EST

Where: Virtual; Zoom.

SXSW 2024 EVENTS

Attending? Add these events to your cal

FREEDOM FORUM [1] | YOURS TO LOSE PREMIERE

About: Come see the premiere of the Yours to Lose immersive theater experience with Third Rail Projects. 

When: March 8th - 10th; multiple showtimes. 

Where: 1A House at SXSW

FREEDOM FORUM [2] | MUSIC & CONVERSATION WITH WHODO

About: Experience live music from Texas band WhoDo, featuring Pulitzer-Prize winning Lawrence Wright.

When: Friday, March 8 at 6:30 p.m.

Where: 1A House at SXSW

FREEDOM FORUM [3] | DRAG & THE FIRST AMENDMENT: A CONVERSATION IWTH BRIGETTE BANDIT

About: Come by the “Drag and the First Amendment” event with Austin drag queen and activist Brigitte Bandit.

When: Saturday, March 9 at 7 p.m.

Where: 1A House at SXSW

CURRANT CONTENT TRENDS & STYLES

When content trends meet political topics – concepts to take for a test drive

THREADS: RED FLAG TRENDS

About: This trend is easy breezy, beautiful, and has creators pointing out political or politically-adjacent statements that they find to be red flags. The post is often used as a jumping off point for conversation on why the statement is a red flag.

What this can be used for: The trend can be used to generate awareness on an issue area or a common talking point used by an entity/party/pundit you disagree with.

Try it out: 

• Select the topic or commonly used phrase.

• Put the phrase in quotes. Add 3-5 red flag emojis after it. Post it.

• If desired, provide POV on why the statement is a red flag by responding to the post.

REELS: TOP TEN TREND

About: What’s on your top ten political wishes list? This audio-based trend lets you share in Reels form.  

The Audio: Save and use this audio.

What this can be used for: The trend can be used to share your POVs with your followers. It can be used to share top ten resources like podcasts, newsletters, creator accounts – or be more issue focused.

Try it out: It’s a MYOV [make your own version] video style-wise, but the following videos provide inspo for how-to put it all together: Example 1 and Example 2.

TIKTOK + REELS + SHORTS: GRWM WHILE I EXPLAIN… TREND

About: This trend will give your audience a jump scare. It has a creator make a video where they drop a statement that they completely disagree with that leads with “GRWM while I explain” + the statement, followed by silence. The silence is what cues your audience and any viewer back into realizing that the creator is NOT for the statement, and that the silence represents that there is “no argument in support of the statement.” 

What this can be used for: This can be used to shed light on the ridiculousness of a political action or belief. 

Try it out: The ACLU account did it best with this video. Follow their format for the best result. 

SHADOW WHO? SHADOW BANNED

A look at Meta’s new politics on the platform(s) policy

In an announcement heard ‘round the creator world, Meta shared that it would be reducing the reach of political content on Instagram, Facebook,  and Threads. Given that they dropped this news on a Friday – every PR team’s preferred day for burying a story – they surely had an idea that this was not going to be a popular announcement. Now, for the topline deats:

• Political content recommendations on the platforms will be an ‘opt-in’ setting that users will have to toggle on. Currently, this toggle/user capability doesn’t exist. Any day now Meta….

• There are no changes as of now to the user experience between a follower of an account that posts political content and that account.

• They [Meta] have not decided on a distinct definition of what qualifies as ‘political content.’

…and for the core issues with this:

• It’s a disincentive for accounts that occasionally dabble in posting political content but aren’t entirely focused on it because Meta will restrict the account’s reach.

• It only furthers users' echo-chambers.

• Political creators [and other niches] are already having issues with their content not being shown to their followers. If the content’s not being shown to their followers or new audiences, it makes creating political content less sustainable. 

• Everything is political – how can a line actually be drawn?

…and for a few suggestions on how combat being an account hiding in plain sight:

• Cultivate a network of fellow creators and noncreators that will share your content, whether in DMs or on Stories. 

• Pitch your content for features in newsletters that are relevant to the topic of the post.

• Ensure that you have a secondary platform - a newsletter, a podcast, a blog, etc that is capable of being shared with an audience regardless of what mood Meta is in that day.

PS in other yet related news → Threads, which played the ‘will they, won’t they’ RomCom narrative on whether they were going to drop a trending topics feature, finally did so. And yes, political topics are still trending despite Meta’s new policy, so do with that what you will.

INSTAGRAM DMS GET A TUNE UP

New filter keeps the chaos at bay

Meta makes us mad as a hatter about its political content moderation, but they did throw us a bone with the following update: they’ve added a new filter for the DMs, which allows users to view messages from accounts that they follow in its own tab. The ‘People You Follow’ tab is a win for creators because…

• …it separates out messages from accounts that don’t follow you, but still find the time to send hateful or spam DMs [those can find themselves sitting the requests tab]. In other words, you’ll be able to actually open and scroll through a tab in your DMs that are more likely to house messages about collaborations, connection, and thought sharing.

• …it helps keep the chaos of a creator's inbox at bay. Presuming you’re following accounts of brands, orgs, and other creators that you’d want to work or engage with, it lets you stay organized and on top of answering those prioritized communications. 

This update brings us to an old school but forever relevant piece of advice – if you’re interested in working with an entity, before reaching out, make sure to be following the entity on social media first. The PR team will and does check if you do. The same dynamic applies to entities exploring partnership asks with creators – make sure to be following the creator and have an understanding of their content before reaching out. 

RESOURCE ROUND-UP

Something to save, something to use

• RESOURCE BANK → The Social Currant Resource Bank is chock full of tools, platforms, and resources to use to up-level your content.

• FOR THE REBRAND → Considering a rebrand? Check out Pinterest’s 2024 Palette for a bit of inspo on color selections.

• FOR MARKETING CAMPAIGNS → Use Buffer’s free UTM builder to keep an eye on your links.

• FOR CREATOR COMMUNITY → Join the Social Currant Slack channel and chat with fellow creators, get to know the Social Currant Community, and keep tabs on upcoming campaigns.

HEADLINES

News at a glance from ‘round the creator sphere

• Pew Research Center: How U.S. Adults Use TikTok

• Engadget: The latest experimental Threads features let you save drafts and take photos in-app

• Tubefilter: Karat’s new tool tells creators exactly how much their peers are earning on YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and more

• The Verge: Where everyone’s an influencer and everything’s for sale

TALENT TIP

Collabs can enhance your client’s merch launches

Launching merch is always a risk. Will it sell? Will those that buy it post about it? Will it bring new followers into the fold? But that risk is often worth the reward if a collection is done collaboratively. From the political creator lens, two collaborative routes that should and could be explored as a way to reach new audiences:

• Partner with an organization that focuses on a cause that the creator cares about and is active around.

• Partner with a social impact clothing [or other item] related company and generate a timely capsule collection – again, connected to an issue that the creator cares about, and also in this case, is central to the partner company’s mission. 

Adding a thoughtfully-selected, dynamic partner can decrease risk, create cost-sharing, and generate a secondary motivation for a shopper to purchase the merch line. For example, a follower might be on the fence about the purchase but then sees that the partner org leads on an issue near and dear, making that the determining factor in the purchase. 

A merch collab also extends the life of a content collaboration between an org and a creator; it also deepens the associative connection between the two for followers. 

Quick guidelines for potential partners:

• The org selected should be one you’ve worked with before. The first partnership with the org shouldn’t be the merch collab.

• There should be a philanthropic component to the launch; a percentage of proceeds go to the org for example.

• The org and its mission should be one that seamlessly aligns with the creator’s messaging. A thorough audit should be done of the org first.

• Get an understanding of past partnerships or collabs the orgs have done. 

CAMPAIGN CORNER

Upcoming and current paid campaigns, available now. See one that’s of interest? Fill out this form and we’ll get in touch with details. Please note, if you’re a talent agent we’ll be in touch with a talent agency specific form – just respond to this email!

Campaign Focus → Voter Registration

Date Available: Now through November 7

Platforms: Discord, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

Campaign Goal: Increase, encourage, and spur voter registration via Discord communities.

Location Requirement: Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Virginia [open to creators in other states but preference will be given to creators in these target states]

Campaign Focus → Criminal Justice Reform in Kentucky

Date Available: Now through March 1st

Platforms: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

Campaign Goal: To shed light on criminal justice reform initiatives in Kentucky. 

Location Requirement: Interested creators must be Kentucky-based.

Campaign Focus → Free Tax Filing

Date Available: Now through April 1st

Platforms: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube

Campaign Goal: To tap financial, activist, and hyperlocal creators to talk about the IRS free tax filing program. 

Location Requirement: Interested creators must live in one of the following states - Arizona, Florida, South Dakota, California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Washington & Wyoming.

Campaign Focus → Spotify Harming Audiobook Authors

Date Available: Now through March 4th

Platforms: TikTok, Instagram

Campaign Goal: To tap Booktok creators, authors, and passionate readers to discuss how Spotify’s free audiobooks offering is harming small authors.

Location Requirement: United States

LET’S GET SOCIAL