The political arena and other facets of our culture are becoming more polarized. When you are honest about your values and beliefs, you will establish loyalty with your followers. Not taking a stand on an issue may damage the credibility of a brand. According to a recent study by Sprout Social, 70% of survey respondents believe it's important for brands to have a position on social and political issues. In the same survey, more than 60% believed brands had the capability to reach a large audience and make positive changes. Thus, engaging with social issues plays a crucial role in your content marketing strategies. In the following pages, we will be discussing some basic steps that you can take to ensure that your brand is engaging with the socio-political debates of our times.
How Do You Know When to Speak?
As your business tries to accommodate every situation, think about when to make an official comment or voice your disapproval. Certain points will help your team to address this problem. Some are given below:
∙ As a brand, what do we stand for? Does that issue intersect with our vision or mission statement? Is this an important subject, and can we make a meaningful statement? Or will we demonstrate to our audience that we are responsible for our stance?
∙ What do our clients and workers expect from us? Are we fulfilling the expectations of our customers and employees? Do they want us to take a position?
∙ What is our silence saying? A corporation's silence can speak louder than a simple statement. Consider the potential implications of maintaining silence.
∙ Generally speaking, the chief executive or president of the organization should make its announcement. However, make sure to include the voices of those adversely affected by an issue as well as those from marginalized communities. Genuine representations also signify that you value diversity and authenticity.
How to Speak (Or Not) About Social Issues?
If you want to make a contribution regarding a social or political issue, follow some of these tips to connect with your audience. You can also learn a good deal from the content marketing strategies of brands that are already doing it well.
1. Try to Be Different and Unique in Your Messaging
Brands put out messages whenever a major event is around such as Women’s Day. However, think about the intent as well as the impact of your messaging. Being thoughtful and showing vulnerability makes your brand humane.This is an important part of the content marketing strategy. Thus, the audience feels a bond and connects better.
2. Customize To Your Brand
Look for a way to express yourself in the best way possible. How does this cause relate to your brand values? Acknowledging the connection will increase your impact.
3. Hold Yourself Accountable
Your company's commitment to a cause is one thing, but you need to show your audience that you're actively working toward fixing the trouble. And make sure to speak about your company's efforts to lead to a change that pertains to societal problems. Let your viewers know that you care and are striving to steer change. This is not just a tactic for marketing your content. Rather this, and the other points on this list, is also core values that most successful businesses strive to maintain.
4. Actively Work Towards Causes
Before making a statement, consider going deeper. Think about providing resources or support to people affected by your cause. These contributions can have more impact on your audience as well as the greater society.
5. Taking a Stand is Not Always about Being Political
In our polarized political atmosphere, some suspect when brands express support for a humanitarian goal, it means they are making a political statement. But this position isn't always correct. An organization can instead focus on a change in an expression of interest in an endeavor, even if it falls outside a particular side of the contentious scheme.
6. Make Long Term Plans
Your content marketing scheme, just like your brand, should be chalked out by taking the future into consideration. So, when you choose social issues to engage with, think about the long haul and make adequate plans to sustain it. Think about the long-term implications and how you can support or oppose this issue. Maybe you want to set up recurring donations to a designated charity? Or maybe it is time to overhaul your organization's hiring and promotion practices? Or could it be time for internal training?
Final Words
Content is the fuel that helps your brand’s engine to run. So, it is essential that you employ the right tools to manage your content marketing strategies. Social and political issues provide a lot of food for content but dealing with them requires expert guidance. We Love Digital Marketing provide the required services so that your brand name and game is unparalleled in digital marketing. To know more, you can call or drop a mail at info@welovedigitalmarketing.com.
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