Twitter (I refuse to say X because it is stupid) has alienated half the voting population because of its CEO, Elon Musk’s ties to the President. Meta is pissing off people by kowtowing to the new administration and getting rid of fact-checking. BlueSky launched in hopes of capturing the Twitter quitters. TikTok is China (well, not really, but in political terms, our government thinks China is stealing our babies’ souls if we use TikTok.) All told, using social media isn’t just fun anymore; it’s political. (Personal aside: I love TikTok. I consume a lot of entertainment there, from babies getting beaten up by cats to skiing tutorials and fails to stand up comedians; as long as there is TikTok, I will be watching. Unless Elon Musk buys it, then I will have a real moral dilemma.)
So, what should businesses do with all of this upheaval in social media? What if your personal values don’t align with the leadership on these platforms? Do you worry that your customers will judge you if you keep/start using these platforms? Should you worry?
Whether or not you want to be grappling with where to grow your brand in a time of social media upheaval, it would behoove you (gosh, I’ve wanted to use the word behoove for a while) to think about your marketing through the lens of your brand values.
What are brand values?
Profit? Fame? Just kidding. (Though for-profit businesses value profit, profitability is not one that I’ve seen in a company’s brand values list.)
At Arlington Strategy, our brand values are collaboration, community, integrity, action, and respect. We developed these to help us communicate what matters to us as a business – our motivators. See, businesses rarely get started based on pure greed. Most entrepreneurs start companies with good intentions and purpose. That’s where brand values come in. If you don’t have any (I mean, surely you have values, but maybe you haven’t written them down in the context of your brand), it is a fantastic exercise in building your team or leadership, aligning purpose, and the values can be instrumental in framing your positioning to your customer or audiences.
Brand values are also a helpful tool – they can provide a framework for decision-making, including where to participate in marketing.
How does where your brand shows up impact your brand?
If you’ve been using Twitter for years and years, and you’ve determined it is an effective marketing platform for your brand – but your brand values are misaligned with those of Twitter, what do you do now?
Let me ask you this: will your leaving Twitter offend your customers? Will it hurt your business? Will you be seen as making a political statement? (That could be good or bad – it depends on your brand values!) There is no rule that you can’t use marketing channels you don’t respect. I don’t think that it will make your brand look bad if you stay. But make sure that the effectiveness of your being there isn’t changing – because if your loyal following on the platform has left – who are you reaching there? If your loyal following is still engaging with you there, then why would your following judge you for being there? (Also, for most businesses, most customers aren’t vetting where to buy a coat or go out to eat based on what social platforms that business might be active on. I did say most. Because, of course, for some, this might matter.)
This idea of where to have your brand show up has existed since before social media. Think conservative newspapers and liberal newspapers. You advertise to reach your audience. Where is your audience? If your brand is agnostic on politics or political positioning, you go where your audience is. (I suspect that vocal liberal spice brand Penzy’s is not buying advertising in conservative newspapers – but I haven’t fact-checked that, but now that I’m thinking about it, I’m going to do some research.)
How do you determine what aligns with your brand?
In our current environment, I’m not advising clients on unpacking the political leanings and censorship or fact-checking (or lack thereof) on various marketing channels. I am more concerned with assessing fit with where each client’s audience is and being deliberate in using channels that serve each brand.
If brands want to market proactively in places that align with their values, it isn’t too hard to dig deep to find those channels. Your local marketing agency knows all of the local opportunities to align with brand priorities, as well as the large digital and print opportunities.
What do you do if you get accused of being political?
I say go with the truth. If you intentionally left or joined a marketing channel to make a political statement, be willing to talk about that. If you align your decision-making to your brand values, then it all makes sense to your audience.
How to make the best decisions for your brand.
Be authentic. It was the buzzword years ago, but that hasn’t gone away. The more aligned your brand is from the start – with intention and purpose, the more you avoid surprising your audience, your team, or yourself.
Conclusion
If you don’t have brand values, get them.
If your brand purpose is confusing or undefined, work on it.
Knowing who you are, who your audience is, and clearly understanding how you want to show up in the marketplace is all base-building for knowing where to market and how to market.
So in this time of social media upheaval (hell, some, I mean me, might even say Democracy upheaval), keep looking inward more than outward. Build your strong brand. Go where YOUR audiences are. Be authentic. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
