The A-B-Cs of social media from the voice of ‘Sesame Street’

“The Cookie Monster” rule of social media is simple: Every post must feel like it could only come from you, just as a post from “Sesame Street’s” sweets-loving Muppet will be unmistakably him.

While this might seem like an easy rule to apply when you’re talking about a puppet with decades of brand equity, it should apply to any brand. Eder Reynoso, former senior social media manager for Sesame Workshop, demonstrated this principle by reading a social media post with the name and avatar removed.

“There’s no guarantee in sports. You’ll be told you can’t do it, so do it anyway. You can’t win, so win,” Reynoso read. The audience was asked if the post came from Nike or Adidas.

Nearly the entire crowd assembled at Ragan and PR Daily’s Social Media Conference Thursday correctly identified that the hard-driving message was created by Nike.

“Your audience should recognize your style, your voice and your personality instantly,” Reynoso said.

Reynoso was affected by layoffs at The Sesame Workshop last week, and so appeared in a personal capacity. But during his time there, he helped run the accounts for 55 different characters across social platforms. Here are the A-B-Cs of social media he learned from being the master of monsters.

Always be on brand

The Cookie Monster Rule is a vital one for branding, but if all he talks about is cookies, the account will grow as stale as an opened box of snickerdoodles. Reynoso said one way to keep accounts fresh is to find relevant adjacencies.

“Adjacent subjects are subjects, ideas and thoughts that don’t automatically fall under your brand, but are related in some way or another,” Reynoso said. For instance, Cookie Monster would also love to sleep, to party and to think deep “shower thoughts.” Identifying these areas that might not be the direct brand but are deeply related allows the accounts to grow and expand into other communities without oversaturating on one subject.

“Define your personality and stick to it,” Reynoso said. “If your audience knows it to you without even looking at any of their other context clues, that’s when you know you’re doing it right.”

Benefit your audience

Reynoso said social media managers should ask themselves two questions. First and most importantly, do you enjoy your own content? If not, why should anyone else?

During the 2024 election cycle, Reynoso saw the pervasive negativity on social media. In his own conversation with friends and family, he found himself sharing positive affirmations about kindness.

He realized that other people could benefit. So he and his team put together affirmations from the “Sesame Street” characters that could be shared to lighten the mood and reassure anxious users in a non-partisan way. Because it mattered to him, he realized it would matter to his audience.

Which leads directly to the second question: What’s in it for my audience?

“Social media is not for your company, it’s for your consumer,” Reynoso said. “You need to know what they want, rather than trying to try to force them to want what you have.”

Culture is everything

When Reynoso was learning to write in the voices of “Sesame Street’s” characters, a long-tenured writer gave him a piece of advice: You never sacrifice character for a joke.

“There are opportunities for us to say something witty, to say something backhanded, to say something even mean spirited that would get a lot of traction and become viral,” Reynoso said. “But you’re not going to sacrifice years and years of brand building or character development for a quick kick in numbers. Never sacrifice your brand for a quick bump in attention.”

Instead, he recommends looking for moments to insert yourself into cultural conversations in a way that feels natural and organic.

For instance, Big Bird would naturally be interested in other birds. Reynoso typed that key term into a social media tool and identified a National Geographic post about eagles building a nest. Big Bird might pop in and just say, “Great job, love the nest.”

“By entering conversations, you get to expose yourself to a lot of people who might not even know you’re there and have loved your brand for many, many years,” Reynoso said.

It’s easy to focus on going viral as the ultimate goal of social media. But smaller moments build culture, build community and build advocates.

“I’d like to think of brand and marketing as a two-course meal,” Reynoso said. “The main course is your brand, your retail space, your website or your consumer engagement. Social media should be considered an appetizer, something small, something to bring in that audience and set them up for what they’re about to devour with your main course.”