Now, Are You Panicked Enough To Want To Use Your Own Climate Influence?
A little strategic intention will go a long way.
COP28-monitoring friends: Big Oil, Big Meat and Big Dairy are counting on you to now be exhausted, take a few months off and then return to your regularly scheduled communications efforts. They always know they will outspend the climate-acting folks for Earth Day, Climate Week and COP campaigns. They don’t worry about us at all.
But we could change the game, with some intention.
I’m convinced we can each do our own small part to consistently build social capital and boost political will, so that those few annual events don’t become our whole hope (how’s that been going for us?)! To develop the climate influence that can grow to be more relevant than million dollar ad budgets, there’s a counterintuitive approach. The key is more proactively strategizing and using social platforms to build louder and, again, CONSISTENT, leadership voices.
I am in no way suggesting that “everyone needs to get on TikTok and Instagram” right now. Instead, the idea is that each leader should find and get comfortable with just one platform that hosts B2B / P2P (more substantially professional) conversations. As of now, those platforms would seem to be LinkedIn, perhaps Bluesky (instead of Tw/X) and an audio platform like Swellcast (a platform I’m starting to use and where I see a lot of potential for our community).
Heading out of this frustrating COP, now is the time to embrace the truth that you have a leadership voice and a niche group of followers who may still need to see one of their peers - that’s you - “go first” with bolder steps and more visibility.
Dedicating some time to consistently building some social capital is the way we stop relying on the big moments that are always bought and paid for by climate-denying industry associations.
YOU, yes you, have much more potential impact in joining conversations, telling your failure and success stories, sharing just a bit of how you live your own climate values, and building a louder collective leadership voice.
This is how we shift the social norm of corporate and political leadership.
And, you can start to do this right now, from your own office or home. Right now.
First movers, you’ll go down in history as the names that catalyzed a shift away from climate-deniers as the shining story. You’ll also help reduce our dependency on the structure of all of these supposed major climate moments. Your increased visibility will represent the moment when we climate-actors started writing our *own book* about how , together, we jump started a quick, massive change.
Advising on Climate Influence development is all I do. Let’s go.
News To Use
RE: COP28 Takeaways, via Ed King in the *excellent* GSCC newsletter. Subscribe here.
COP28: mixed
Branded by the hosts as “historic” in a speech that verged on the tone of an Oscar acceptance, the COP28 summit outcomes will be the subject of intense scrutiny for months to come. And not just for the number of speeches referencing “children and grandchildren” who - we can be fairly sure - won’t look on this process kindly. This was a meeting where fossil fuel lobbyists raged against the dying light but only partially succeeded in blocking a UN signal that oil, gas and coal are finished.
My context: Everything I’ve read about the pomp, circumstance and grandiosity of the lying at COP28 points to the importance of owning the narrative. What the UAE knows is that massively produced environments and BS storytelling can work, and wow did they leverage the heck out of their moment. Those monitoring the event like glossy and glowing stories. So, we have an opportunity to build a collective voice of leadership (see above) and making sure we frame a glowing, positive, “name and fame” narrative around unexpected messengers. When a Republican Congressperson touts energy efficient upgrades in his home - let’s more loudly tell his story. When a Mayor finds massive success in moving her city’s urban community away from cars and exemplifies that in her own transportation choices (waving hello to Anne Hidalgo, and to the five U.S. mayors/local leaders I interviewed for my Living Change podcast) - her story needs to be told to resistant city leaders the world over. Name and fame those who have proven it can be done and momentum will build.
*Bonus: Link to Damian Carrington’s COP28 debrief for more excellent context.
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RE: Social media marketing/ influence trends hold sustainability and climate opportunities. Via The Influence Agency
Fifty-four percent of consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand that strives to be environmentally responsible or has sustainable and ethical business practices. Social media has fostered a culture of transparency, making it easier for consumers to scrutinize and hold brands accountable for their actions. Consumers search for brands that align with their values.
This social media marketing trend for 2024 will see more brands incorporating sustainability initiatives and purpose-driven content into their feeds to genuinely connect with socially conscious audiences. We expect they’ll look to showcase their commitment to ethical practices and engage in conversations surrounding important social causes, openly sharing their efforts, goals, and progress.
My context: It is both in the corporate brand messaging AND in amplifying the human beings who are leading the corporate (or nonprofit) sustainability or climate charge to raise theses organizations up as accessible signals that it can be done. I’m calling for more strategic storytelling in corporate content and leadership communications. Brand messaging alone convinces consumers. Brand messaging plus a more visible CEO, CSO or other sustainability-driven executive is how resilient trust gets built with the range of stakeholders.
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RE: Podcasts equal a massive untapped educational and motivational tool for climate action. Still, the way the industry supports mainly “blockbuster” shows will screw us all. Read this excellent take from Elaine Appleton Grant.
We have to find a different way to fund this valuable, magical medium of storytelling, connection and community. It is too valuable a form to lose shows that move and change us, like WNYC’s Death, Sex and Money, NPR’s Rough Translation, and Spotify’s Heavyweight. It is too valuable to lose thousands of gifted audio storytellers to more lucrative, but less influential fields.
My context: As I’ve learned from experience as both a podcast listener and a podcast creator/host, audio is simply more powerful for building authentic connection and really informing minds in a passive, lovely way. The medium offers tremendous hope for bringing climate-acting consumer behavior and leadership to many more new ears. There are so many amazing ways to reach listeners with impact, even if the show is not the equivalent of Marc Maron’s WTF. This is powerful stuff and the corporate sustainability and climate funding world should see podcasting for all its potential, and find ways to align, support and fund. Again, coming out of COP28, we have an untapped tool ready and waiting via our phones. This seems extra urgent.
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Thanks *so much* for reading/sharing/subscribing. Please comment or message me with questions on building climate influence. I may cover your suggested topics in a future issue, or on my Swellcast. In the meantime, feel free to follow me on LinkedIn or BlueSky in the meantime (I also linger on “X”.)