by By Emily Hamann @emhamann93
This week, we took a long look at the ethics and responsibilities that businesses and brands need to think about when creating and distributing content. The words and actions of a brand are seen by millions, and with todays ever-increasing sensitivity, it is more important now than ever to be an ethical brand.
Although a brand may be trying to do what it thinks is the “right thing” when posting after an event or for a holiday, many times it is essentially speaking up when no one asked it a question. Although participating in the action of the mainstream and day-to-day media may seem like the right way to get your brand noticed, it may get you noticed for the wrong reasons.
If we know one thing about the Internet, it is that what you post can be forever enshrined on the World Wide Web, which is why it is so important that brands do not make fools of themselves on social media. It is also very easily shared, so when one mistake happens it can fly across the world in a matter of seconds. Taking preventative measures by having smart and savvy people in your marketing team could save you from a #MajorFail later on.
Below is a collection of tweets between brands and their customers. This is just a small compilation, but there are many more examples of this on social media. Is has become a phenomenon that companies are now beginning to respond with funny and sassy responses to some customers. The way theses altercations are handled is immensely important, because these interactions can be shared and seen by millions and impact the publics’ view of that brand.
One question I have is, what is the most common age of the marketing and outreach departments? It seems like some of these fails and poor responses could be from older employees who may not be as adept online.
This brings up the importance of having a great crisis management team. An incident may reflect poorly on a brand, but a good crisis management team can turn that loss into a gain. Some companies have turned bad situations into good ones through the use of clever problem solving.
Although we saw some major fails, sometimes instances like these turn into #winning moments for brands. The importance of brands acting ethical is constantly growing, amid a sea of fake news and controversial buzzword topics, making ethical decisions can help your brand remain reputable in the eyes of the public.
Great post, Emily! I definitely agree with the statements you make and truly believe that ethics plays a huge role in the credibility of a company/organization. I would be interested to hear more about the question you raised: “what is the most common age of the marketing and outreach departments?” You might be right about how older employees may not be as adept online, but it would be hard to believe that a company would put people on to handle such outward facing responsibilities such as responding to the public. I would hope for there to be a diversity in the age range, but think it may lean towards the younger side.
As my featured tweet says (also, holla) at the end of the day brand engagement must remain sensitive, ethical, and authentic. Seizing the moment on social media can make or break a company in the quick moments before going public with a post that is attempting to be on trend and involved in the conversation of the moment. In making its’ voices heard, companies have to remember that more often than not it is best to remain silent unless blatantly necessary to do otherwise.