MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Tap Employee-Creators to Transform Your Social Media Strategy

Businesses that help employees become social media stars have a cost-effective way to generate enormous brand visibility.

On Jan. 2, 2023, 19 refugees from Cuba who were adrift on a makeshift boat in the Straits of Florida were spotted and rescued by the crew of the Celebrity Beyond, a passing cruise ship. Rescuing stranded refugees has become surprisingly routine for cruise liners during an intensifying global migrant crisis. What made this rescue unusual, however, was the way it rippled across social media when the captain of the Beyond, Kate McCue, documented it on TikTok.

McCue is well known in the industry for being the first American woman to captain a mega cruise ship (one that can accommodate more than 5,000 passengers). She’s also known outside the industry as @captainkatemccue, a TikToker with 3.6 million followers (and another 900,000 or so followers on Instagram). McCue’s 67-second video about the rescue generated nearly 30 million views on social media, creating the kind of positive exposure for Celebrity Cruises that any CMO would pay dearly for. Only in this case, it cost almost nothing.

About the Author

Aaron Dinin, Ph.D., is a faculty member in Duke University’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship program, where he specializes in teaching marketing and personal brand building on social media.

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