When saying "no" comes with a price.

What a time to have internet access, eh?

Between the Good Good X Calloway controversy, Luvsac drama, Tarte PR packages gone wrong, and the quick virality (and discourse) of Chanty Beluga… Social Media Marketing has really been spicy the past month.

DISCERNMENT is a soft skill superpower. It’s the ability to "read the room" and understand the dynamics at play, to then, arrive to a wise decision.

And we know it, everyday Social Media pro's must use discernment with every decision they make. From what gets posted, on what day, what the caption says, everything. (This is also something AI can't replace and is a skill learned through experience.)

In my career, I’ve often had to be the “no” person in the room across TV and Social Media.

These moments are behind-the-scenes where I had to fought for what I believed was the right move for the brand and the moment.

But people don’t like to be told “no.” And saying “no” can effect your own internal PR negatively.

One time, I had to fight against responding to an Elon Musk tweet as the brand bc I did not believe he represented a person the brand should associate with.

I fought hard to not respond. I know it ruffled some feathers and most likely stunted my growth. I'm still glad I stuck by my decision.

One time in a TV job: I spoke up about a comedic bit that I didn’t think was working and kindly asked if we should iterate on other options. It was like I took all the air out of the room.

Then we filmed the bit and everyone said the same thing: This didn’t work.

Whatever the reason these recent campaigns went live (despite inherently having some sort of approval process) speaks to the silent power of discernment.

Make a risky decision? It can cost you more than if you just hadn’t posted it.

Yet when these posts go bad? The backlash is HUGE.

Many brands don’t get the chance to recover from a bad moment. And I would bet there were some employees at those brands that thought: “I knew it.”

With leadership, I believe a key element is to be challenged and to hear “no” sometimes without the pushback hurting the person speaking up. After all, for Social Media, leadership can often not the key demographic nor the Social Media expert in the room.

You know corporate is off when I became jealous watching a scene in Disclosure Day where Colin Firth is directly asking his team for ideas to solve whatever the hell was going on in the movie hahaha

I thought, “How cool for him to ask the team and then spar right there for a solution?!”

There was no “circle back” or “additional meetings.”

There was no “I don’t trust your judgement.”

There was no ignoring anyone’s POV.

I often think about the position I heard of during the early days of Amazon. Jeff Bezos would hire a “shadow.” (Stay with me here, bc I knowwwwww it’s HIM but it’s a good example of debate in the workplace)

The shadow’s main role was to be a duplicate eyes and ears for Bezos to do three things:

I think more “leadership” today should have this. And maybe they do, on their social team right now.

Should leadership be approving social content? NO. Let the team you hired do the job.

But should leadership set a standard or a vision or north star for the team? YES. And that takes communication and transparency. And also sometimes, the open candor to be challenged on those visions.

Ultimately, I believe the lack of discernment lately speaks to a corporate culture problem:

So to my fellow Social Media pros: Keep saying no. Keep using your discernment. Keep speaking up. (When the moment and the fight is worth it. More about this and other key corporate skills in my recent article here.)

But if the fight is too hard, or if you find yourself repeating yourself too much: Polish up that resume and move on.

Because misalignment is a misalignment.

And you’re not there to fix all the problems.

You’re there to make great, smart and creative shit that tells a story. And that’s why you’re awesome.

Til the next time, I’ll see ya on the internet!

XOXO Sarah Whittle

First off, I’m gonna watch anything about a pickle. Secondly, this post has what I call “The Give a Shit Factor.” It’s content that proves that the creator gives a shit, without saying that they give a shit. It’s so well done (almost like a PBS show), the music is nostalgic and comforting but it’s also a bit brain rotty.

According to his bio, Lincoln Hoppe is an actor and musician tgat composes the music for these videos.

This is proof that anything and anyone can go “viral.” But the ones that “give a shit” are something special.