Net Positive Growth, Christina Garnett

Amplifying Others for Social Media Community

Christina Garnett is a Senior Marketing Manager at HubSpot. Also known for her role within the community of Marketing Twitter. Her welcome tweet has gained incredible traction and engagement. The constant amplification of an honest, authentic, and real community has brought about real success and influence. I definitely recommend following her immediately, @ThatChristinaG.

When asked about her personal growth story, leaving her Strategist role at an agency was a pivotal moment, after suffering from burnout. 

The job had provided a global work environment, pushing for a more remote workplace prior to the impact of 2020. In that environment, resource sharing was a method she employed to better impact the organisation, whether that be blogs, tweets, or conferences. Christina is a big believer in the idea, rising tides lift all boats.

Sharing resources to build

The internet is a brilliant environment for that collective improvement. The attitude shift from competition to the community was the hurdle initially. The community focus that she employed has allowed others to shift their perspective, changed how they interact, how they speak about others, and approach amplification.

The common misconception is that sharing other people’s work or success detracts from you. Christina believes that you’re not losing anything for yourself by sharing. In stark contrast, you’re introducing your audience to a new idea or a new perspective. You’re a bridge, a connector, your light doesn’t soften.

Twitter Marketing

Having left her job, and missing that sharing element, she dove into twitter. She focused on who had the voices that needed to be amplified, who had valuable content, threads and perspectives. 

Christina then discovered that many small accounts with little following were consistently putting out great content, but no amplification existed for them. So she chose to amplify everyone, she became the rising tide.

The Tweet

Christina created this tweet:

The tweet is the front door of Marketing Twitter. It’s a community filled with positive interactions and freshly formed connections. 

The Impact

Christina has connected with some amazing people, especially building some core groups. People have changed their use of twitter, and their feeds are becoming positive and uplifting. 

“You are what you consume”

The world can be a dark place, and social media can be a force for good, or it can pile it on even more. During 2020, the platform became more authentic. People took their masks off and began to share their stories, approached topics like burnout, mental health and taking care of yourself. Users discovered the good that can come from social media. People celebrate complete strangers finding jobs or successes in their day to day lives.

“Perfect strangers on the internet will amplify you and love you and support you more than people who are actually your crew”

The group has an unapologetic vulnerability to it. Individuals see the impact the community has on themselves and give back tenfold. People will admit their faults, like sleep patterns, imposter syndrome and tough days. Members admit to not knowing everything, and in a field like digital marketing, there is a lot that people don’t know. 

The community comes together, cheers for each other, shares ideas and knowledge. They’ll write blogs about each other, have them as podcast guests. Twitter feeds are changing. 

How did it Impact You?

The community empowered Christina, it gave her strength. The idea that she could still make an impact, or be a force for change was incredible. The ripples of her actions are impacting employees, employers and their attitudes. Events may rethink their strategy, fresh faces, new voices and different perspectives. 

Christina has grown into the role as someone who people listen to, taking that responsibility seriously, she is constantly trying to improve the industry. The use of Twitter Spaces has also meant that avatars or display pictures finally had a voice, improving overall connection. 

The Dark Side

The growth and development of the community wasn’t always smooth sailing. In the early days, there were some individuals who didn’t always appreciate everyone being amplified, and were onboard when it only served themselves.

“Your subtweets show your true colours more than Pantone ever could”

Through the growth of the community, there were always going to be people within it who wanted to take it in a particular direction, and it will have a life of its own. There will always be the potential for negativity, but Christina is protective of the community. She’s the godmother, leading by example, and often informs the real purpose of the group and for people to act like adults.

Her close friends, and her close group within the community share the craziness that is the twittersphere. The group keeps each other in check, authentically themselves and using the platform for good.

Staying Productive

Christina keeps productive with two tools, hand written to-do lists, and her google calendar. If it doesn’t exist on either of those, it won’t be getting done. The tools allow her to prioritise really well and stay on task. Five minutes of most hours she’ll jump onto twitter. Twitter is her release to keep in touch with people, but it never impedes her work. 

Next Challenge

Christina has plenty of new initiatives at HubSpot that she’s working on, but not quite able to share. She’s excited about being able to impact customers and fans, helping support the community.

Social Media Advice

Curate. Curate, Curate. When dealing with an algorithm or the AI that deals with your news feed and the content that’s placed in front of you, you need to be selective. Take control of as much of it as you can. 

“You need to be very purposeful about what you’re engaging with because it will dictate what you’re shown in the future”

When approaching your own expression and personal brand, Christina recommended, be yourself, and don’t try too hard. People can quickly recognise if someone is imitating a recipe for success rather than being genuine. Some of the recommended growth hacks just scream scripted. Make your twitter experience about 1 to 1 relationships, it will always come back to you, especially in a fruitful manner. Do relationship marketing. 

Final Thoughts

Speaking to Christina, I felt transported to a pivotal moment in the film, Coach Carter. Basketballer, Timo Cruz, accompanied by a soft instrumental, speaks about one’s shining light. Christina is Coach Carter for the Marketing Twitter community, inspiring them to be their best self. 

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