They call it a platform for good reason
It’s not for nothing that we refer to different social media — LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter in this case — as platforms.
After all, dictionary.com defines a platform as “a stage for use by public speakers, performers; a place for public discussion; forum.”
This is your company’s chance to speak in a public forum with possible thousands of listeners. It’s a great responsibility and opportunity. How does your company use it?
This week, we applaud one company for making space for an employee to speak about his culture and others, which aren’t represented so often in mainstream discussions. We spotlight something fun (let’s not forget the social aspect to all this) and then we like how a few other organizations collaborated in a professional post that has all the bells and whistles.
We think one great way to honor a culture, its heritage and history during a nationally designated month is to give the people a voice. Just let the person talk about her/his experience and opinions — whether it be for Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month or Native American Heritage Month. Arcadia, Calif.-based Vons gave one of its store cashiers, Jimmy Cisco of the Navajo Nation, a voice on its Twitter platform, with all 14,300 followers. The post includes a photo of Cisco, shares a quote from him and gives full attribution, ending with the appropriate hashtag. Thank you, Vons, for showing us by example one small (but not necessarily small) way we can pay respect to all the Native American tribes who work alongside us and are us. Great use of this social media platform, Vons. Find them on Twitter at @vons.
“One important thing that minor cultures want people to know is that we’re just like everyone else. We just happen to have a different skin color, different beliefs and outlook on things.” — Jimmy Cisco, Cashier, Navajo Nation #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth pic.twitter.com/2XkRyq7etZ — Vons (@vons) November 10, 2021
This post isn’t exactly tied to our produce industry, but it is definitely applicable. It’s just…So. Perfect. We. Can’t. Even. We were struck by one of the funny signs TCS New York City Marathon spectators made to cheer on the 33,000 runners along the 26.1-mile race Nov. 7. It’s the fourth sign that got us: “You’re running smoother than the supply chain.” Our issues have reached peak status (we hope, oh we hope) for this joke to be part of today’s zeitgeist. While we work on solutions to this crisis spanning the produce industry as well as many other industries, we can still pause for a laugh. If you can’t laugh, well then, the supply chain gridlock has won. And we can’t have that. Find them on Instagram at @whatisnewyork.
Trish James, chief marketing officer for Shuman Farms and vice president of Healthy Family Project, alerted us to a wonderful milestone reached by Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets: 11 million meals raised for Feeding America member food banks. Congrats, Publix. James shared the post about Healthy Family Project’s partnership with Publix to educate consumers on the health benefits of different produce plus a QR code linking to recipes and more. The original post does a great job by tagging the major organizations mentioned, showing a cute child photo with some value-added apples, as well as many other photos, sprinkling on a few hashtags, squeezing in a party-hat emoji and writing out some actual context so we understand the promotion. Whew! It’s a lot. But some posts can and should be.
Find them on LinkedIn by searching "Trish James," “Healthy Family Project,” “Publix Super Markets” and “Feeding America.”
