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- Social Media = Breadcrumbs: My Top JUST PRESS RECORD '24 Moment #3
Social Media = Breadcrumbs: My Top JUST PRESS RECORD '24 Moment #3
feat. Christina Garnett and Vic Ruggiero
Matt Zeigler
January 06, 2025
When your entire brand reputation is driven by word of mouth, of one kid telling another, “Hey, The Slackers are playing over here on Saturday, you should come see them with us,” you take audience engagement very seriously.
It’s one of the things I’ve always respected the most about Vic Ruggiero and the streak he’s got with The Slackers. 1991-2025 and still going strong. That’s over 30 years people. Pre-internet to post-social media, without a hit song, and just enough audience around the world to keep the show on the road.
Which is exactly why I wanted to introduce him to Christina Garnett. Christina’s official role, often as a Chief Customer Officer for companies like HubSpot, is all about that customer-as-fan type of engagement, but for way way way bigger enterprises. I knew they’d both agree on what matters, but that they’d have entirely different levels of awareness for how they approached it.
I especially wanted to ask Christina, kind of on Vic’s behalf, if he even needs to do social media.
Isn’t the word of mouth enough? Isn’t the base they’ve built over decades of touring and selling records over indie store counters and back-of-show merch tables a solid enough foundation?
She told us “yes, and.”
Here’s a snippet of Christina’s brilliant response:
Yes, because you need to be a part of people’s everyday lives. You have no idea - you post a story, and because of that somebody puts on a vinyl, or someone listens and looks for a show.
You need to look at social as breadcrumbs.
Because everyone is just assuming, “I’ll do one post and that’s gonna fix everything,” but it’s not enough.
Every thing that you put on social is a breadcrumb. It’s gonna make people think about a concert that they went to, it’s gonna make people think about a song, or a city that they love to visit. It isn’t necessarily going to direct straight to YOU, but then, if it does send them to a positive memory, you get to be a part of that, you are attached to that little piece of their day.
How can you create breadcrumbs so that you can be a part of their day?
Social media gives brands, and bands, the opportunity leave a breadcrumb that can be connected back to another breadcrumb, curating a path back to a shared experience.
Social media isn’t just a marketing engine, it’s a reminder engine.
You get to remind scrollers you’re out there. You get to remind them of something they did, possibly and probably not even on social media, that felt good. If you choose to, and it’s certainly a choice.
Both Vic and I left this conversation with a different attitude and awareness to how we thought about social media.
How, where, and why are you leaving the breadcrumbs you’re leaving online?
This is why Christina Garnett and Vic Ruggiero are my #3 clip of the year from Just Press Record. Catch this clip and all the others in the full episode below, AND if you missed their full Just Press Record conversation, that links down there too.
For those of you wondering about my “It’s just tragic” reference: