
Baby Got Backstory BGBS 051: Ariel Rubin | Kum & Go | Twitter Is Hard!
Dec 9, 2020
53:47
BGBS 051: Ariel Rubin | Kum & Go | Twitter Is Hard!
Ariel Rubin, Director of Communication for Kum & Go, is a Webby Award-winning digital strategist with over 10 years of experience in social media and content creation in Uganda, Sudan, Turkey, Switzerland, and the United States. Ariel is a master at Twitter, bringing progressive, fun, and human content to Kum & Go, a fourth-generation convenience store chain with its headquarters based in Iowa.
As Ariel puts it, brands have a responsibility to be good corporate citizens. He uses Kum & Go’s signature humor to bring an audience large enough to amplify the voices of marginalized communities that don’t usually feel like they are heard. We applaud Kum & Go for continuing to stand up for humanity and feel inspired to do the same. With that, we ask you, who will you stand up for today?
In this episode, you'll learn...
- Ariel has lived all over the world, including Turkey, Switzerland, Uganda, London, and more before talking to the president of Kum & Go and deciding to settle down in Iowa
- Kum & Go is a fourth-generation owned business from a family that has lived in Iowa and has served its people for over 60 years
- The reason why Ariel chooses to be funny on Twitter is because when he wants to speak on a serious issue, he has a built audience that will listen
- Ariel describes Kum & Go as compassionate, welcoming, inclusive, and open. When tackling today’s issues, they put humanity and science first
- You can’t underestimate the power of publicly standing as an ally in a state like Iowa, where people may feel like their voices aren’t heard
- All of the content created for Kum & Go is organic, created in-house, and on free software without many promotions. And yet they’ve found outstanding traction in the online world
- One of Ariel’s biggest posting failures was a meme about college football. Of all his time posting about global crises, he never received nearly as much rage as with the college football scandal
- When posting on social media, Ariel does not just compete with other convenience stores for your attention. He competes with your texts, streaming shows, the news, and more. Getting even 5 seconds of your time is difficult
- Maintaining relevance is a challenge because audience behavior is changing every day. That is why Ariel never plans a tweet and would rather begin conversations based on what happens that day on social media
- Consistency is key with social media, even when you don’t find easy success.
