Stewart Reynolds, aka Brittlestar almost daily captures the zeitgeist of Canadian culture online...and with millions of views on Youtube, Twitter and other top platforms is a savvy content creator, digital strategist, keynote speaker and social media strategy consultant.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
Stewart Reynolds, aka Brittlestar almost daily captures the zeitgeist of Canadian culture online...and with millions of views on Youtube, Twitter and other top platforms is a savvy content creator, digital strategist, keynote speaker and social media strategy consultant.
Brittlestar is my very special guest on this episode of The Voice of Retail - we talk social media tradecraft, and his love for Zeller’s and Consumers Distributing, and actionable advice on how retailers can be consistent and successful with their social media strategies.
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I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!
Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!
BrittleStar:
Hundreds of thousands of people watch Brittlestar’s videos every week.
His comedic and family-friendly videos have been seen more than 450 MILLION times on various platforms. His recent KFC video campaign was the most popular branded video content in the world in the summer of 2017.
With a global fanbase, an invitation to the White House, speaking engagements all over North America, starring in the Dreamworks TV show ‘Kid vs Parent’ with his youngest son, collaborations with celebs such as The Property Brothers, and meet-and-greets at PlaylistLive, Brittlestar is living the social media celebrity dream… not bad for a Dad from the suburbs.
Brittlestar, or Stewart Reynolds (as his mom calls him when he’s in trouble), is the father of two teen boys, Owen and Gregor (both well-known creators online). These three guys, along with Brittlestar’s wife, Shannon (co-star of their successful The Morning Show Thing live stream on Facebook), have created viral videos for a variety of brands and organizations such as Disney, ESPN, Subway, CBC, Walmart, and others.
Michael LeBlanc
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host, Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. Stewart Reynolds, aka Brittlestar almost daily captures the zeitgeist to Canadian culture online... and with millions of views on YouTube, Twitter and other top platforms is a savvy content creator, digital strategist, keynote speaker, and social media consultant.
Brittlestar is my very special guest on this episode of The Voice of Retail, we talk social media tradecraft his love for Zellers and Consumers Distributing, and actionable advice on how retailers can be consistent and successful with their social media strategies.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
You know, I think I related to that idea of like, I want to be able to tell the world who I am.
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And that's certainly a huge thing on social media right now is like, there's, and this point in history, is really explaining to people this is who I am, this is what I stand for. This is what I think about things, this is what I support. And that's a major consideration for people now maybe more than ever in history, to tell strangers who they are and how they feel about things. And they, they do that one of the ways they do that is by using social media content. And that's how memes are so successful. That's how my videos can get successful.
Michael LeBlanc
Let's listen in now.
Sir, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing this morning?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I'm just fine. Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, I'm very excited to talk to you, or should you say Brittlestar, we'll get into this, this, this meme, or this social media identity, this whatever thing you've created, it's really amazing. And thanks so much for joining me, this is going to be an interesting interview because it's a, you know, it's an exploration of what you've done so well, and your observations, and I think the retailers and listeners are really gonna enjoy it.
Let's jump right in. So, tell us about yourself and your personal professional journey and what you do today and how you got to where you are today?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Sure. Um, so, as you mentioned, most people will know me best as Brittlestar on, from social media. And what I've been doing for the past eight and a half or so years, has been creating content on social media starting on Vine, the old six and a half second looping video application.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And that's, kind of, we got our start on that and gain some success and ended up working with a bunch of brands. And so now my time is kind of split between creating content that's just, sort of, original content, sort of, put out there for people's enjoyment, hopefully.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Along with some brand work, where I work with some, you know, worked with some top tier brands and be able to create content in my own style, but with their messaging and that kind of stuff. So, it's a weird job to have, because I started when I was 43, doing this.
Michael LeBlanc
I was going to say, yeah, it's not exactly a linear career journey. That, [inaudible]
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
No, it is not. You know, I can think back to when I was, I did a talk for some grade 8 kids, early, early, early on in my social media career. And right before me, the principal was saying, well, kids, you know, if you want to do this kind of trade job, you go this direction, if you want to go this kind of job to go this direction. And then I got up and I was like, yeah, kids, my job didn't exist six months ago. So, you know, keep your doors open.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, how did you find your way there? I mean, were you and your business? We’re your professional entertainer, or were you something a little bit of both? How did you kind of come to this as a gig?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Well, I mean, you know, I've always been involved in music. So, I mean, entertainment, in general, is kind of always been a thing for me. And I've been, you know, when I was 16, and stuff we were doing, you know, record company interviews, and performing and all that kind of stuff. So, it's always been a big part of, of who I am.
And then also, you know, at the same time sort of balancing that has been this super interest in becoming self-employed and running my own business. And I've been doing that, since I was 19. I started with, I created my own jingle writing company, jingle production company for radio stations. And so that idea of, you know, creating messaging and a jingle that was going to hook people in the first 7 seconds, or like that, apparently translated very well into Vine, which was 6.4 seconds.
Michael LeBlanc
Right, right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
So, yeah, it was my youngest son, Gregor, who was 11 and watched a vlog about this new app called Vine and said, "Dad you've got to check this out. It's like the video version of Twitter." And so, I just started messing around with it. And, and we were in such a place at that point where, you know, we were like, it was fiscal disaster for us at that point, our business had collapsed because of a catastrophic hack in 2008.
Michael LeBlanc
Oh my goodness.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And then the recession, of course, the happening
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
at the same time,
Michael LeBlanc
Double jeopardy.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Exactly, which we had about sort of six different attempts at getting out of that situation that just didn't work. I was doing some voiceover work. And then and then just to basically keep myself sane and happy. I started creating these videos on Vine and they found an audience, which I'm forever grateful for.
Michael LeBlanc
So, tell me about Brittlestar, the, the identity you have and why did you create that as a, as an identity, what was your, what was your strategy behind that?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
The strategy behind that was based way back in the music days in 2004, I was 34 years old. And I was like, "Well, if, I've been waiting for someone to tell me, I'm allowed to make an album. And no one's come along and said that yet, so I'm just gonna make one".
So, I ended up connecting with a guy named Stephen Duffy, who was one of the founders of Duran Duran, if anyone knows the band, and lots of success with Robbie Williams and the Barenaked Ladies and all that kind of stuff. And he helped me sort of craft this first record. And as I was doing that, I was like, well, no one's gonna buy an album by Stewart Reynolds. Who's gonna wear that T-shirt, not me. And, but I would wear a T-shirt by like a cool band name. And so, my oldest son, Owen had a marine life book when he was about three. And we would read it before bed at night, we'd go through all the animals and all that kind of stuff. And then we'd get to these weird spindly starfish,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
called brittle stars. And they can “see”, and I'm air quoting that through their tentacles, and they defecate out of their mouths. And I was like, this is perfect. This sounds like a great name, this is a great band name.
Michael LeBlanc
It’s a great band name, yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And then like when that sort of social stuff came around
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
afterwards, it was like, well, I've got all the domain names, I've got all the social accounts, I'll just sell the stick with those as opposed to like trying to teach people who Stewart Reynolds is, I'll just keep on with Brittlestar. And it's easier to remember, plus, it looks good on a T-shirt.
Michael LeBlanc
And it tells a story when you go look it up on, on Wikipedia, for sure. That's a tough one to cap.
Talk about the inspiration for your work. I mean, I, you know, as I've observed you, some of the work seems like something's happened to me, and I'm just gonna do content about it. And other things, seem more, seem more, kind of, deliberate or planned out from a content strategy. And, and where I'm going with this is, you know, many retailers when I, when I've been asking them, particularly during the COVID era and beyond, you know, social media is taking on such an important role in their marketing and their identity. And they're seeing it, you know, the customer experience, but it's, it's kind of new to them, when do I create content? How do I create content? What's that vibe, and tell us about how you approach it, like from a blank sheet of paper, all the way to, you know, something that's that really seems to be catching on in this kind of meme way?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Well, I think what's interesting to me about social media content and content creation is that there are so few shared experiences we have now. And you know, there's a fantastic term, another Duran Duran reference, funny enough, which is weird by, in the lyrics, by Simon Le Bon, where he says that he refers to people with their iPods and headphones in as Sonic Islands. And it's very, very true though. It's very much like an idea of like, everyone's in their own little universe and stuff and very isolated, so that you have like algorithms who are, you know, curating content that you want to see,
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
it's not necessarily the content that's just out there being created. It's just the stuff that it thinks you want to see anyway. And then you also have their one in their headphones, you've got everyone on their phones, you've got to everyone's, kind of, a little bit of a Sonic Island.
And so, there's, there's few shared experiences, and I think that one of social media is best aspects is that it can be used to connect people in that shared experience way. Like, if there's something happening, the most obvious example, of course, is the pandemic,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
is that, you know, it's not a case of just entertaining people. It's not a case of just blasting out information to people. It's about saying to people, hey, look, I'm going through this and you probably are going through this as well. And that can be anything from as serious as, you know, the pandemic, right down to as silly as you know, doing a song about Zellers.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And it's, it's, you know, that's
Michael LeBlanc
Love that, by the way.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Well, thank you.
Michael LeBlanc
And I can, I can tell you, just because I shared it with a bunch of people, the former CEOs and Presidents of Zellers all loved it too
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Oh fantastic
Michael Leblanc
Because I worked, I used to work at Zellers, right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Right.
Michael LeBlanc
I worked at HBC. And I can tell you, George Heller, who was the President at the time, Thomas Haig, they just, they just loved it. They just thought it was just a.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Oh, that's great. That's fantastic.
Michael LeBlanc
Of course, they like to stick it to Target too, right, really. I remember I was at a conference, big, big, big retail conference and one of the former Presidents got up and Target had just left Canada. And he said, you know, "So, how many people in the room are, at one time worked for Zellers?". Of course, big company, right, so, a lot of hands go up
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Sure.
Michael LeBlanc
And he goes, how do you feel about us now? And it was kind of a roar of approval. That set this keynote off very well.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
There's such a Canadian aspect to that whole saga between Zellers and Target of having that, sort of, notion of you don't know what you've got till it's gone basically and it's just that idea of you know, we, do, Canada is so good and putting
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
itself down and, and lodding and the grass is greener across the border sometimes. But then it's like, man, we had a pretty good.
Michael LeBlanc
Moving Target. I mean, you nailed it Moving Target. I know the link to that in case anybody hasn't seen it, Moving Target. It's, it's, it's pretty funny, even, you know, the, you don't know, necessarily the backstory but the President of Zellers, Thomas Haig went and became the President of Giant Tiger. So, these even a Giant Tiger reference
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Right, there is. Yeah, exactly.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah in the song, right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, there's, there's another one
Michael LeBlanc
Interesting.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I'm working on currently about Consumers Distributing. So just to let, just to let you know, that's a scoop.
Michael LeBlanc
Wow, yeah. So, there we go. There's a, there's a scoop. So, you've taped content, you create content. I love what you're talking about. I mean, but social media is both and I'm very conflicted about social media on any given
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
day. I mean, it is both the, you know, somehow, someway, it is both the biggest risk to our society. And at the same time, the most liberating part of, you know, the internet, so I'm very conflicted about it on any given day. So, you're right about that social, you know, you're in this, this sometimes virtuous, but sometimes a negative loop, right? It's just going to reinforce
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Sure.
Michael LeBlanc
good, hopefully, good things, but also can reinforce not-so-good thing. So, how do you, how do you manage to do that? I mean, you just need to take that positive, you create content, and you put it out there?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, I think it's really important. I think one of the things, you know, someone was asking about what my new year's resolution was, and I was like, my New Year's resolution, which I don't really do is, is really, usually ridiculous. Like, I want to swear more and that type of thing. But, you know, my new year's resolution was to amplify good.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And I think that's the key, is that social media is really good at making you think something, some things, or issues are really loud, and some voices are super loud.
Michael LeBlanc
And for good or ill, right, right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
and for good or ill. Exactly. And I think you have to, you have to be savvy about it realize that you know, just because I have a saying that says the loudest person in the room is usually the dumbest. And it's held true to this so far anyway. And I think that you know, you have to find those good stories, and you have to amplify those good stories and those good connections because you can make as much noise as the, as the bad stuff, and I think that's really important. And I think it's super easy. And I think one of the things that I, that I despise about social media, and it doesn't apply to every platform, it especially, you know, applies to Facebook, is that as I call it, the Facebook anger-ithm.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
It's, you know, I have a video on there, that's explaining Canada Day to Americans, and it does really well. And it's I think it's, it's sort of 55 or 60 million views or something.
Michael LeBlanc
Crazy and congratulations.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Well, thank you.
Michael LeBlanc
You know, I produce a bit of content myself, and those views are so impressive, so congratulations on your success.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I mean, well, thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, it's phenomenal. And but the thing that is really annoying about that is because every year that'll go up another few million, and I put it out in 2017. And, you know, it's I know that if I want to get good views on Facebook and good numbers, I need to put something contentious. It's going to make people angry, because
Michael LeBlanc
The anger algorithm, right?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, yeah, the Facebook anger-ithm. And it's, it's just a case of that's the worst part of the algorithms for social media is that they think that engagement equals good. And it's like, well it doesn't always,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
You know what I mean?
Michael LeBlanc
Unfortunately, yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Like you're, all you're doing is creating a mob.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah. Well, I mean, we could have a whole separate podcast on "Can we turn the clock back? Can we put the toothpaste back in the tube, or the champagne cork back in the in the bottle?". Let's talk about your tradecraft a bit. What advice or best practices have you had? I mean, you're getting millions of views. I mean, I can imagine, you get a call from an agency or a client saying, ‘Could you create a viral video for me?” Like, oh, yeah, let me get, you know I do 10 of those yesterday.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
It's super easy.
Michael LeBlanc
It's super easy, tick, yeah, I know the formula like, you've come close to, to, at least, close in proximity to understanding how to approach the formula, at least in terms of, you know, how to get video that people will watch on a positive. So, share a bit, share a bit of your insights around that, insights and experience, because you're both working, as you said, on your own and
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
and working for clients?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
So, I think, you know, what's important to realize is that the social media landscape is more like a social media seascape. And it's kind of constantly churning and changing directions. And there's a million or billions of factors involved. From everything from, you know, the algorithm of the platform to what's happening in the news cycle to,
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
you know, what ridiculous distraction's happening somewhere else.
And what's happening in the world off social media as well impacts that. I think the key for social media content to do really well is it, it has to be part entertainment, part utility. I think it has to be useful to the viewer in the sense that at the least they can look at that piece of content and go, ‘This expresses how I feel’. So, I can use this to let other people know how I feel. I often relate it to you know, way back in the day when you would have your CDs or are cassettes in the car, and you give someone a ride in your car, you only had the cool ones on display, the ones that you were like your guilty pleasures were in the center console, or they were in the glove box.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, Sega was in the glove box.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
You know me so well, come on now.
Michael LeBlanc
Okay Styx, maybe.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yes, Styx is, exactly. Just when it's you in the car and the road and Come Sail Away. And, you know, I think I related to that idea of like, I want to be able to tell the world who I am.
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And that's certainly a huge thing on social media right now is like there's at this point in history is really explaining to people this is who I am, this is what I stand for. This is what I think about things, this is what I support. And that's a major consideration for people now maybe more than ever in history, to tell strangers who they are and how they feel about things. And they, they do that, one of the ways they do that is by using social media content. And that's how memes are so successful. That's how my videos can get successful. Because we all go "Yeah, this is how I feel".
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
So, they have to have the entertainment aspect and they have to have utility as well.
Michael LeBlanc
Is there, what role does consistency play in terms of production? I mean, it, is it, is it important for, for us to be consistent in terms of how and when we, we put out or is that over, is that over thought through?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I mean, I think that's, kind of, the idea that you can, you can, you can enter this market of, a market that's been based on abandoning appointment viewing and say, I'm going to set up an appointment for you to view this every week is nonsense. I think that you know, consistency is good in the sense that,
Michael LeBlanc
You can't go months withou-, you can't post something and then go weeks posting something, right. I mean you've got to,
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Exactly. So, there's not a magic number, but you do have to, you're maintaining profile. It's the old adage of, you know, if Coca-Cola stopped advertising for a day, their sales have dropped 10%. And it was like everyone knows about Coca-Cola.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
It's just profile. It's just basically like, there's a sea of information.
Michael LeBlanc
Top of mind stuff, right? Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, it's totally top of mind. And it's just, you're just there. And it is impossible to saturate the internet. You just cannot do it. It cannot be done. It's just it's, you know, even that nonsense of back a number of years of “Kim Kardashian breaks internet”. No, she didn't. It's like the-, it's like there's nothing. It's just, there's still people that have no idea. There's people who follow me, who've been like, you know, "Did you make a video?" and "You stopped making videos? I haven't seen any of them in a while.", it's like, are you kidding, I made like five last week.
Michael LeBlanc
Now when you make, when you make your videos, or you make your content, and, and this is maybe not the fairest question but you kind of rank 1 to like, I like it 5 to like, I'm, you know, this is amazing. And maybe there's a 0 or 1 like that one didn't work out the way I want. Do you, do you, kind of, say, "Listen, I'm only going to do the three plus" or do you put them all out, kind of, happy with, do you like to ever just do something? And again, I'm trying to understand the creator's perspective around "Listen, that didn't work out the way I think but I'm still gonna launch it because I want to be consistent", or is there that, kind of, "Nope, I'm not going to put it out because it just didn't, I don't think it's gonna be that successful.", or "I'm not thrilled with it.", something like that?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, I mean, you have to be savvy about it. I mean, you have to take consideration about what you're putting out there if you put, if you do, I'm a big believer in the notion that, I'm trying to say this in the least gross way possible, but, that ideas for content are like movements, shall we say, and you can't skip to the next one, because you might be better, you still have to get that one out first, and then you can go on to the next one.
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
So, I think that that idea is you know, you have to keep creating, you have to keep doing stuff. And even if the idea you're like, I'm not sure if it's gonna work sometimes those are the ones that work great. And you're excited to get them out. And other times you get through an idea, and you think it's gonna be amazing. You start out and go, like, you know what, this just didn't hit. I'm just gonna, now it's out and it's done and it's out of my head and I can move on to the next one
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
and be better about it. But consistency as far as scheduling, know, as far as maintaining top of mind. Absolutely.
Michael LeBlanc
Let's talk about the, the COVID era of the past 18 months, you've been doing this for a long time. Really a social media veteran in your mind has anything changed with the way people consume the social media or and I guess I'm, I always try to get to, well, there's of course 18 months of very unusual behavior. Is anything going to change structurally around how people consume media, so for example, retailers are thinking now that particular apparel retailers, Instagram is more important than it ever was because more people shopped online, and, then bought in the store. Is that going to stick? This is the big billion-dollar question
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
we're all asking ourselves, you know?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, I mean, I, it'll be interesting to see and I really don't know how things will transpire as we come out of the pandemic. But certainly, you know, the effect of the pandemic. Looking back on it, it's evident that, you know, prior to the pandemic for social media’s focus, yeah, we used to take social media into our world and when the pandemic social media became our world and that had a number of things ha-, you know, sort of, happen because of that, and I don't know if they're gonna stick or not. But one of the things was, I think that there's a, there's a super big blur between what was happening entertainment-wise on social media and what was happening entertainment-wise on traditional media. And I think that people started to see that see it a little differently, as opposed to prior to the pandemic, people would see like, well, they're just, it's a social media star. And this is a TV star. And I think that mattered less during the pandemic is like, you know, I'm getting my entertainment anyway, I can get it.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, they're not, they weren't in your if I'd summarize you, they weren't making that qualitative difference like entertainment is entertainment.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Exactly. Exactly.
Michael LeBlanc
No matter the media that I'm consuming it on. Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
One of the things I really noticed that is interesting, is that there's been, and it'll be interesting to see if it holds up, because I mean, traditional media is such a massive industry that it's, it's not going to let up control easily and it doesn't change easily. But I've noticed there's kind of been a leaning towards more, for lack of a better word, authentic-looking productions as opposed to overblown, glitzy productions. You know, I think that you look at some shows that are, you know, essentially, really, really Americanized, high gloss, type productions, and not even just shows, but ads and everything.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And they just don't hit as well anymore. Because people are like, well, I just had a year and a half of people talking directly, directly to me on their phone.
Michael LeBlanc
That’s interesting
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And then now you're just going back to like, pretending I'm just, you know like you're talking to kind of the middle distance now that I'm right here. So, it'll be interesting to see if that sticks or if that changes. I'm really not sure what's going to happen with that. But it'll be super interesting.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, I think we all still have a yearning for that, you know, dune-style production right now.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Oh, sure.
Michael LeBlanc
Take me into another world.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
or a level that's beyond, beyond, you know, with all the tradecraft professionalism.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
For sure.
Michael LeBlanc
But then there's that authenticity, right, is, is. And I guess you're trying to walk those two, those two, that fine line.
Last question for yeah, second last question, but tell us about two-starts and one-stop that you would advise clients and retailers listening around their use of content on social media. Two, two things they should start doing and one thing that, maybe, just doesn't work anymore, or maybe you see them doing too often.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
So, the two-starts, one-stop. So, two starts, so, the first start would be for businesses and brands and such, with regards to social media, to, people know there's a person behind the account. So, you can be, you don't have to be, you know, glossy all the time. You don't have to pretend things aren't happening. You don't have to be super arm's length with this. You can be, you're entertaining first, is the idea. And the other start would be, I would start, aw man, that's a hard question. I mean, from my perspective, I think I would start if I was business or a brand,
Michael LeBlanc
Would you start a Tiktok account? Are you a fan of Tiktok?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I think you should start, I think you start every account, you can, and I think you should start realizing that social media isn't just a job to give to the intern, it's not just a job to give to, even though some interns are great. It's a full-time job. And it's not a full-time job. Like you can't just say to one person here, take care of our TikTok account, our Instagram account, our Twitter account our Facebook account, our YouTube channel. That's, that's like, that's, you know, each one of those is the job on its own. You look at some of the successful accounts and social accounts and brands, like Wendy's or whatever, KFC UK or something. And those people are professional entertainers for lack of better, or writers.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
And that's all they do, is they just, they put out information,
Michael LeBlanc
That is,
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
got their messaging, and then they, they,
Michael LeBlanc
For the right media, right? For that, that,
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
That interesting idea that, that look, because we know Twitter, for example, it's, its own thing, right? It's a very different medium, right. You can't just pick up a YouTube video and slap it on.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yes, absolutely. No, exactly.
Michael LeBlanc
And I think the other thing you, you raise, which is really, really great, because that's always the way I've approached it, it's just because, you know, you might have a young intern who themselves is on social media, that doesn't mean they get social media or content creation, strategically, right?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Exactly, exactly.
Michael LeBlanc
I mean, they could.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I mean, you're absolutely right, you could look out and you get an amazing intern, who does an amazing job.
Michael LeBlanc
Sure.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
But at the same time, that notion of I mean, you're already saying "It's not that important to us" by just sort of throwing it off to someone say [inaudible].
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, you're on social media, you must be good at it.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Exactly. Just post some tweets and just post some pictures.
Michael LeBlanc
I see all the pictures, do whatever.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah, it's like, well, really, and I might, you know, my thing for working with brands has always been, "What's the last ad that you shared?", you know.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, interesting.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
and that's, that's the rule. And it's like, if the ad is funny, and there's been ads that I've shared, but, the, I don't share them unless there's gonna they're providing something beyond the messaging, they have to provide entertainment. Like I'm asking people for their time. So, what are they going to get in return?
Michael LeBlanc
We're kind of encroaching on the stop, which is "Don't you know, don't hire someone just because they use social media to do your social media.", anything, anything else that comes to mind that maybe it's something that's changed over the past 18 months, maybe you, again, it's that thing you need to correct everyone on or just point them in the right direction. Any thoughts on that,
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I think, I think I would stop using social media as a bulletin board, as well, I think that I'll add on to that, or augment that point by saying, stop using social media as a bulletin board / not everything has to be a conversation. So, there's a weird sort of balance there, where you don't have to dance with every idiot, is my rule. And at the same time, you know, putting up information that offers nothing to no one, only for your own benefit. Like who cares, that's a scroll, like I'm moving on.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, I mean, the risk there, as you say, "Well, I need to publish something twice a week. I don't know what to talk about. I'm just po-, you know, I need to tick a box."
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
Right. So, you know, maybe you've skipped that box if you don't have anything really interesting to say.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Yeah.
Michael LeBlanc
Can it do more harm than good? Are you, do you think sometimes?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I think potentially, you can, you just seem a bit oblivious
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
and a bit tone-deaf sometimes, I mean, there's nothing worse than a scheduled tweet that goes out in the middle of a major, you know, event, major news event, and you're like, "Dear God, like read the room." I mean, there was, I mean, I, I felt terr-, I feel terrible for this. But you know, this, you know, Sesame Street has individual social accounts for all their, their characters. I don't know if you know that or not, but it's fantastic. And I follow them, and I love the Muppets, it's and The Count, you know, "One, ah-ah-ah, two", he has his own account, and all he does on Twitter is count. That's it. He just, so, for every tweet tis just like the next number in his however many, so, he's over 3000 now, and it's hilarious, and it's fantastic. But when the shutdown hit in March of 2020, I replied back to The Count, "Read the Room". And he stopped for months, and I felt terrible.
Michael LeBlanc
Oh my goodness.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
I was like, what have I done to this poor little Dracula, Muppet. But then he's back now. So, that's good.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
But that idea of you know, like, if you can't just schedule stuff out,
Michael LeBlanc
Right.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
and it's like walking, it's like walking into a funeral and being like, "Have you guys heard the news such and such album?". No, that's not how you got to figure out where you are first.
Michael LeBlanc
And maybe The Count could count vaccination numbers or something on the user.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Exactly.
Michael LeBlanc
That'd be great. Alright, so, you're, you're, you've got tremendous social media presence. So, usually, my last question is, where can people find you, so as Brittlestar, they can find you on the-, on their favorite platform. But you also, as you mentioned, do some work and help people figure out their ways around all this social media with your, with your experience. How do they get in touch with you? And how do they learn more about that?
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
So, they can find out more about me at Brittlestar.com and, of course, if they do follow on social, on Twitter, or whatever, they can always just message me there. And I'm happy to, or tweet at me or something. And I'm happy to respond if I can. And yeah, no, it's, it's, it's been a weird wild ride
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
as a middle-aged suburban weirdo, and, but long may it continue.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, right on for that.
Michael LeBlanc
And listen, Stewart, congratulations. I mean, I wish you much-continued success. And I, again, I'm a big fan. So, this is a fun experience for me.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Oh, thank you.
Michael LeBlanc
But I think it's also a great, a great learning experience. Thank you for sharing your insights. And thanks for joining me on The Voice of Retail podcast, and again, I wish you much-continued success and a great rest of your summer.
Brittlestar (Stewart Reynolds)
Well, thank you so much for having me.
Michael LeBlanc
Thanks for tuning into today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you enjoy podcasts, so you don't miss out on the latest episodes industry news and insights. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we continue to get amazing guests onto the show.
Michael LeBlanc
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co!
Michael LeBlanc
Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!