Kesi Gardner

On May 10, 2018, I saw a tweet on my Twitter timeline referring to an internship at a prominent Jamaican financial institution from someone’s personal Twitter account. The tweet asked that people send resumes to the person at his corporate email address. When I looked at the person’s Twitter account, I was surprised that they had pinned a tweet (set a tweet to appear above all other tweets from the account) which was of a sexually explicit nature. I was a bit surprised, and thought to myself, this really is an issue which brands should discuss with their employees, regarding what is appropriate and what is inappropriate, and which should be embodied in a corporate social media policy.

In my opinion, when the person (@iThinkethMuch) tweeted that resumes could be sent to him, it implies that he represents the company. The content of social media accounts representing a company must usually abide by the company’s social media policy. I did not believe that the financial services company (@JMMBGroup) would want a sexually explicit pinned tweet associated with their brand on social media and I thought I should bring it to their attention.

I then publicly brought (via a tweet from my account) what I consider to be an inappropriate tweet associated with corporate entity, to the attention of that corporate entity. While (@JMMBGroup) thanked me for bringing the matter to their attention and assured me that it would be dealt with according to their policies, and the gentleman (@iThinkethMuch) also removed the pinned sexually explicit tweet from his account, I do realize (albeit after the fact) that that was not the best approach to take to deal with the situation, and I hereby publicly apologize to the individual (@iThinkethMuch), and to the corporate entity, (@JMMBGroup).

There have also been many public reactions via social media to this situation, including many which presumed that I had malicious intent. Let me state categorically that I do not know this gentleman (@iThinkethMuch) nor do I bank with the institution, so I have no motive to wish ill intent, nor did I do so.

I know within myself that my intentions were pure, but, again, I do see now that I erred in my approach to raising this with (@iThinkethMuch) and (@JMMBGroup), and for this I again apologize. I hope that (@JMMBGroup) has only used this situation as an opportunity to reinforce their social media policy with all employees, and that the employment record of (@iThinkethMuch) was not adversely affected, and that he will also accept this apology and recognize that this was not a personal attack on him.

I haven’t written a blog post like this in awhile and the last article I did about this topic got picked up by Buzzebly. You can read it here if you’re interested. This got the highest views to date so I’ve decided to an updated version.

Now a lot has happened in the YouTube atmosphere. A lot of the old YouTubers I mentioned before, no longer post on YouTube. I think some of the mainstays just know how to stay dedicated and keep at it. It takes awhile to build a following and with YouTube becoming the most popular network, there is a market for it.

Now I won’t list them by any relevance. These are the ones I think have the best content, regardless of subscribers.

Dutty Berry. Dutty Berry has been doing this thing for a couple of years now and I haven’t caught up with him in awhile but I’m pretty sure he’s making a decent living off this YouTube thing along with making appearances and hosting. He has over 140,000 subs and  averages about 100,000 views per video. Dutty Berry has videos sponsored as well, which is a good move. What makes him stand out? His content. You can tell he does his research and makes sure the videos are jam-packed with jokes and up to date news and gossip.

RushCam. Now if you haven’t seen his YouTube channel yet, you should definitely check him out. He has done a wide range of videos with very relatable Jamaican themes. Everything from Carnival to comparing Tastee and Juicy Beef. This dude has personality and the videos aren’t too long but they leave you laughing your head off and somehow wanting to know more about this character. He has the potential to really grow his following as long as he keeps paying attention to making great content.

LaurenOLauren Lauren doesn’t live in Jamaica anymore so her videos are based on her life in California but she is still definitely worth a sub. Point blank, this media veteran is hilarious with her rants about trolls and people’s reactions to her hair. Her content has definitely improved and varied over the years and she has grown to 10,000 subs and 18,000 followers on Instagram.

Lyric Rochester is blowing up YouTube with her makeup tutorials and has almost 200,000 subscribers. She does mostly makeup tutorials but has charisma and is interesting to watch. She’s partnered with Fontana Pharmacy in the past.

Trabass TV is still going strong with his vlogs, music videos and comic skits. He basically just vlogs his life with his wife Deannae but he’s fun to watch and keeps his viewers entertained. He’s really trying to break into the music industry and he’s been doing it for awhile. He’s had some success with appearances and tours.

Chantay Lainey has over 4,000 subscribers on YouTube. She does mostly makeup tutorials but has a bit of vlogs mixed in along the way. She’s a twenty-something just living her life with her friends and has brought us along for the ride!

Those are my picks if you know any YouTubers you think I should add to this list. Let me know!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may have noticed the amount of PR blunders being committed in the news this past week. We as the public have been shocked, embarrassed and enraged by some of the statements made by United Airlines, Pepsi and Sean Spicer. Well if you ever get yourself in the pickle these folks have gotten themselves in, lets look at how we can fix them.

Let’s start with Pepsi. Having made a commercial meant to unify and make a bold statement about the current landscape of the US, Pepsi managed to alienate and offend its target audience. Interestingly enough, my 14 year old daughter found nothing wrong with the commercial but thats another story.

The use of protesters in a commercial centred around a young, white reality television star and model Kendall Jenner being mesmerised by a large group of ethnically diverse people marching down a street holding signs that said, “Join the Conversation”–is a testament to show how disjointed the Pepsi internal ad agency was. What could this young model possibly know about the Black Lives Movement and the Women’s March? Not to mention the pivotal moment when she chucks her blond wig at the seemingly subservient black woman waiting in the wings.

Needless to say, she made a bad choice. But the real issue here is Pepsi. What were they thinking? That a can of Pepsi could unite the police and protestors across many different platforms?

Things got worse when they made their statement,

“Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologise. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologise for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”

Firstly, they should have apologised to their key audience: people who adore the brand. As a Pepsi drinker, I was offended that my name wasn’t called. Yet they made the effort to call Kendall Jenner’s name? She got paid anyway didn’t she? What does putting her name in the statement do? This was their way of attempting to save face for Kendall Jenner’s reputation.

Unless You’re Political, Stay out of it

The bottom line is, if you’re not a politically charged brand, stay out of politics. I would recommend them doing some market research to see where Pepsi is and stick with lighthearted, non-political statements from now on. Will it affect the brand too much?  I doubt it. Pepsi is a corporate giant that can weather a storm such as this one. We will soon forget.

Let’s move on to United Airlines. What didn’t they do wrong? First of all randomly selecting a passenger and hauling them off an overbooked flight although legal (minus the assault) doesn’t mean its right. They could have offered an incentive. Although I read somewhere where they did offer the passengers $US900 to change flights.

The real issue here is how they handled it, the first statement they released,

“This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologise for having to re-accomodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly him to further address and resolve this situation.” – Oscar Munoz, CEO, United Airlines

 

Re-accomodate is the key word here. It implies that moving the customers is an inconvenience to United. They may not have known the details of what had happened but they didn’t address the issue head on which is the assault of the victim.

Admit You’re Wrong

They tried to redeem themselves by issuing another statement more fitting to the circumstances,

“Dear Team,

The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.

I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.

It’s never too late to do the right thing. I have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again. This will include a thorough review of crew movement, our policies for incentivizing volunteers in these situations, how we handle oversold situations and an examination of how we partner with airport authorities and local law enforcement. We’ll communicate the results of our review by April 30th.

I promise you we will do better.

Sincerely,

Oscar”

This statement although more informal, really gives you a sense that they are admitting that there is a serious problem and that they are trying to fix it. Its good to face things head on. Although nearly $1bn of the company’s value was erased in trading on Tuesday, they will bounce back from this.

At last but not least Spicer.  Spicer’s job as Press Secretary for the White House is to handle possible PR issues day in and day out but he himself could not avoid getting into trouble. On Tuesday, he made a statement that not even Hitler used chemical weapons in World War II.

Now, he was trying to make a comparison that Syrian President Bashar Assad is worse than Hitler because he used chemical warfare on his own people in the attack in Syria. But no one knows for sure that Assad was responsible for the attacks and lets not forget the Holocaust! Nazis may not have used the chemical warfare that Assad allegedly used but they definitely used cyanide-based Zyklon B and other types of poison to kill Jews in gas chambers at concentration camps.

Think Before you Speak

Spicer should going forward, should really be prepared before making any blank statements or comparisons about Hitler or anyone else. Seems he may need some media training himself. There really is no hope for him at this point and he might be quite possibly out of a job as his sole purpose is to handle difficult media situations with poise and ease.

 

 

 

Ever since my thread on twitter about personal branding, people have been asking for a blog post. It seems timely to start the new year. The new year is always about new beginnings.

Your brand is your reputation. How you are perceived online is just as important (if not more important) than how you are perceived offline.

Here are a few personal branding tips to take into 2017:

1. Your brand is your story: I find it interesting that many people don’t share what they do for a living on their social networks. Most use it for their passions, gossip and jokes. Which is all great and all but shouldn’t you be using your networks to share a little bit more about yourself? If you are self-employed or are seeking a promotion at work, start thinking of yourself as a brand. No matter what you do for a living more and more what we share on social media reflects on us. Employers look at your social networks before they choose to hire you. Remove any tagged photos of you in any comprimising positions or just make sure those types of pictures are private.
2. Decide what you want to portray: Just as you would create a strategy for your business or marketing plan, so too should you create a plan for your personal brand. How do you want to be perceived? What are your goals? Your passions? Make short term goals and long term goals. And put plans in place to achieve them.
3. Secure a personal website domain in your name: A part of managing your online reputation is making sure that your name is secured. Just think back to when  someone secured Portia Simpson Miller’s domain name and redirected it to Gleaner’s website showing an article about the PNP facing funding problems. Not pretty.
4. Offer distinct value: Remember people don’t want to feel like you are advertising to them, so try in ways that are subtle to give advice or tips in your industry without pushing things down people’s throats. Figure out how you stand out from the rest.
5. Start a blog: Here you can give a more detailed opinions and advice about your industry. That way people can opt-in to getting more in depth information if they choose. Be sure to share on your social networks. Try to blog 2-3 times a week. As more of your information is shared, so will your profile.
6. Take professional photos to share on your social networks: Not just for Linkedin, professional photos can be used on other networks as well. Use these for your profile pictures.
7. Fix up your resume and Linkedin profile: Write a bio with a description of your work experience and some of your professional goals. Make sure it is concise and strategic in representing you in the best possible light.
8. Create a logo of your name: Create a logo of your name and make business cards with your social networks and contact number. This way people will remember you and can easily reach out to you when they need to. Business cards are still relevant and memorable.
9. Use your social networks to tell a story about you as a person, your goals and yes, your industry:Tell a story and have fun! Use Instagram to share interesting pictures and quotes, twitter for blog posts and micro-blogging and facebook to connect with people in your network.
10. Remember offline is just as important as online: Online is great and all but face-to-face is also very important in getting your personal brand out there. How you dress, how you greet people and the things you choose to discuss are all representative of who you want to portray.

If you need help with creating a personal brand online, I can help to enhance your personal profile. Please feel free to reach out to me via social networks or email me at kesigardner36@gmail.com