Mayor Justin Bibb does not lack for ways to speak to the world. Cleveland City Hall has its own television station, TV 20. The mayor can call a press conference and local media will show up, especially if the topic is the Browns. Plus, writes a Substack column.
But Bibb has been trying a different way to reach more eyes and ears: the social media collab. Short for collaboration, it’s when multiple Instagram accounts jointly share a post — amplifying its reach by combining their audiences.
The mayor did an interview about economic development with sports host Gabriella Kreuz for I’m From Cleveland, a well-known Instagram account with 410,000+ followers. Last December, he promoted Cleveland’s new credit card parking meters in a video with “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! the Musical.”
With the Cleveland Remembrance Page, which posts about crime and the justice system, he jointly released his announcement about trying to end federal court oversight of the police. He sent the account a video statement after police made an arrest in the deaths of two young girls.
City Hall is trying to reach people who aren’t attuned to official municipal social media accounts, Fatimah Harris with the mayor’s communications office said.
“We want to hit the people that aren’t necessarily searching for it,” she said. “And I’m From Cleveland has a bunch of people that are in my generation, the Millennials and Gen Z. And Gen Z, they sometimes tend not to follow government pages.”
Cleveland is working to formalize its relationship with I’m From Cleveland with a roughly $5,000 contract for four or five videos, the city said.
By going directly to influential social pages, Bibb is getting around the traditional news media gatekeepers who might question his message — or, in some cases, chase him down hallways. Harris said the city is trying to hit all its bases, not exclude.
“People are looking to social media first for news updates,” she said. “And as much as we love traditional media, it sometimes doesn’t get the amount of traction that we’re hoping for.”
Meanwhile, the mayor has also been making his way into the national press. He recently gave a quote to the New York Times and told Politico he wanted a Democratic presidential nominee “who can f—ing win.”
That’s something you can’t say on TV 20.