Many organizations supported Juneteenth. With 47 states officially recognizing Juneteenth as a state holiday or day of observance. This year, many large companies and small business alike made Juneteenth a paid day off, with Target, Nike, Twitter, Square, Lyft and the NFL leading the way. List of 25 companies that promised to recognize Juneteenth.
They also adjusted their social media initiatives by refraining from posting advertisements to showing support to Black Lives Matter and equality. Facebook ran a series of events on its ‘Lift Black Voices’. Instagram ran a series of events and added new stickers to help users participate in the event and show support. And, LinkedIn shared a range of news stories, resources and highlights via LinkedIn News to connect users to relevant information.
This was not the first time organizations supported Black Lives Matter. On June 2, 2020 organizations and individuals posted black images on their social feeds and paused all social advertisement.
There are two more dates that organizations should consider adjusting their social initiatives:
BlackOut Day: Tuesday, July 7th
Similar to Blackout Tuesday, another boycott is now set for Tuesday, July 7, 2020. BlackOut Day is a social media-promoted event in which all supporters have committed to only spending money at black-owned businesses; this includes banks, grocery stores, gas stations, hair salons and all forms of commerce.
Yelp recently launch a new free searchable attribute that will lets businesses identify themselves as black-owned, and make it easy for users to find and support Black-owned businesses. Businesses will need to opt-in to self-identify. Once they do, they will show up in the search results.
To opt-in visit Yelp for business via desktop or mobile, click edit next to “known for,” click yes next to “Black-owned” and save.
The Commitment March: Friday, August 28th
The Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network are organizing The Commitment March on Washington on August 28th to mark the 57th anniversary of the historic demonstration for Jobs and Freedom and where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech which took place in 1963. This year’s Black Lives March on Washington will be led by the families of those killed by police brutality.