Ensuring Your Brand Survives Social Media Censorship
Social media has revolutionized branding and marketing. Though print media still has an influential place, most brands have shifted the bulk of their media efforts toward social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With good reason: almost every person in our country has some level of social media presence. However, entrenched social media censorship in its varying forms is giving many businesses pause. Brands need to understand the practical steps they can take to continue reaching their target audiences.
Different Forms of Social Media Censorship
Social media platforms use algorithms to tailor the content that reaches consumers. This ensures that users like what they see and keep coming back for more. From a marketing perspective, these algorithms can be helpful in locating receptive audiences.
This helpful capability has its drawbacks: platforms also bury content or limit the number of posts and ads that appear in account feeds. These platforms naturally try to increase views on paid content and funnel viewers away from posts that promote other websites.
Over the last year, this consumer-based censorship has also evolved into another form of censoring: restricting posts based on the ideas and values promoted. This form of blacklisting is becoming increasingly prevalent and difficult to avoid. Both users and companies are voicing their frustration over this form of voice-suppression.
What Censorship Means for Your Brand
Monetary-censorship affects most brands in the same way. Paying for ad space can help ensure that your post is seen. Not every company can afford this and they will need to learn how to keep ahead of the algorithms in order to take advantage of the free, organic feed.
Value and information-based censorship will affect every brand differently. Companies that have certain values or words as a part of their brand may receive a higher level of backlash or ghosting on certain platforms.
You may decide to alter your brand wording or rephrase posts in order to avoid cancellation. If this is not possible for you, trying “free speech” platforms may be in order. However you choose to respond, every company needs to be aware that censorship exists and that it affects their brand.
Practical Steps To Address Censorship
Marketing changes because people change. Standards and interests vary from year to year. Your brand will withstand these changes in the same ways it has withstood all those before: by adapting the methods needed to reach its target audience.
Remember that people are still people. Your products and services are still needed. If you focus on reaching people instead of the constantly changing algorithms and social media rules, your brand will survive.
Here are some practical steps marketing experts take that will help you continue to reach your people:
Read, read, read. Stoke your passion for improvement and never stop studying. Marketing is a constant learning curve. No one knows everything or does everything they should when promoting their brand. Keep tabs on the latest changes in algorithms and socially-accepted content and don’t hesitate to adapt. Surround yourself with others who are passionate about improving their brands and marketing. It is possible to stay ahead of the platform algorithms and reach your audience through an organic feed.
Remember your obligation to your audience, not platform. It is your consumers that buy your products and services, not a social media platform. You have no obligation to change your brand or marketing budget because of their algorithms or value preferences. Focus on your target audience. How can you best reach them? With ‘free speech’ platforms popping up and many growing frustrated with the usual social media channels, it is important to understand which new platforms are worth your time. You may be surprised at what you find.
Rely on a variety of marketing strategies and forms. We know better than to put all our eggs in one basket, but it can be easy to stick to what we know. Consider putting energy into print media (magazines, newspapers) or email. Even old-fashioned snail mail! Always keep your target audience’s preferences in mind, but remember that social media is not the only form of marketing available. Other forms will not be as heavily policed.
Put the work in on your website. Cliche as it may feel, your website is crucial to your marketing strategy. As your homebase, a website is the one part of your business that every potential client will see at some point. It is also completely yours and not reliant on any form of censorship. Make sure it is a solid informational hub to send potential customers.
Try something new. The algorithms on social media platforms will continue growing smarter and pickier about your content. If your target audience completely resides in the social universe, you may have to as well. Wherever you place the bulk of your marketing efforts, however, continue experimenting. Keep your heads up and your ears to the ground. This is how we discover new methods of reaching others and new ways around the social autocrats.
Social media platforms have the right to censor their content feeds. By posting on their sites, brands agree to abide by their rules. This may change in the future as governments get involved or consumers express their frustration by boy-cotting certain platforms. However, it is essential for companies to keep in mind that their obligation is to their brand and their audiences, not to any platform. Keep informed of different platform’s regulations and what it takes to reach consumers. If a platform will no longer accommodate your brand after all your effort, then it is time to part ways.
