What Should Brands (and People) Be Posting on Social Media Right Now?
Every Thursday, THE BOARD BRIEFING brings you curated industry insights directly from our Experts to your inbox. This is a special edition due to the LA Wildfires. Please note the links to live event as well as to donate to GLAM4GOOD.
By Sara McCord, Social Media Expert Creating Viral Content with Ethical Integrity
Social media is sometimes boiled down to a time-sucking aggregation of air-brushed frivolity, insecurity-breeding falsehoods, Chat GPT captions that sucked the poetry and individuality out of expression, conspiracy theories, viral hacks, algorithms that don’t show us what we actually want to see, and an endless interruption of paid ads.
And it can be all of those things.
But it’s not solely those things. We also know that social media can provide community, information, resources, support, and dare I say–hope.
There’s a history of social media as a meaningful communal space:
Consider Facebook notifying you that it’s a friend’s birthday; and, on the receiving end, pings all day long of people you connected with throughout your life wanting to wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. It feels good to be seen and remembered.
Consider informative carousels that expand our worldview. Would we have known of these people and perspectives if not for social media and how shareable information is?
Consider the onslaught of free live workouts during the pandemic so we could move together indoors. One example of adapting your business to serve - and growing as a result.
Consider crowd-funding donations. Which is: fundraising via an online social network.
All this to say: The answer to the question WHY WOULD A BRAND CHANGE THEIR POSTING STRATEGY FOR THE LA WILDFIRES? is, in fact, two-fold.
It’s not simply BECAUSE WE CARE (which, by the way, is reason enough).
It’s also BECAUSE THERE IS A PRECEDENT THAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS USED FOR MEANING AND CONNECTION.
Halting regularly scheduling programming and posting appropriately during a crisis is a best practice. It serves your audience and it validates what you stand for as a brand.
Some History
Social media forever changed the way that brands communicated with their audience. Pre-social, a brand spoke at the audience: campaigns, advertisements, press releases, even websites that functioned as placeholders on the internet. The only opportunity for human connection was via humans: an in-person activation, a sales associate, a customer service representative, etc.
For the first time, social media allowed for public two-way conversation when we were sitting at home. Fans, and users, and customers couldn’t only comment and ask questions on a brand page; as content has evolved they can now generate the story.
Which means, audiences feel personally connected to brands because we are. We have the same expectation of a brand (company or personal) as we do other relationships in our life.
You told me you care about people: Show me.
You told me buying your product means I believe in something bigger, too: Do something so I feel validated in where I spend my money,
You told me we’re your community: Act like it.
Another important change in media as a whole is our view of visually representing human suffering in the 21st century. In the 20th century, showcasing the faces of those suffering was seen as brave and truthful and resonant. Consider how “The Terror of War” won a Pulitzer Prize, when it is a photo of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, a young child, naked, running from Napalm.
In the 21st century “striking” images must be vetted for if they are exploitative; in any way ignoring the humanity of those pictured, or seen as leveraging the tragedy. This is an important note because it carries through to social media. Many platforms are visual-first, and anyone creating content must note this shift so as to not be (+ be seen as) performative or insensitive.
How can I figure out what to post?
Ask yourself the following questions as guideposts:
If tragedy struck me and my hometown, what would I want to see on social media? What would I not want to see on social media?
Have I addressed crises in the past? How so? And how has it been received?
Is there anyone I’m following who posted something and it made me think: “Wow, this is really amazing.” (Or, “Oh nooooo.”)
Are members of my community LA based or likely to be impacted by the wildfires?
How extensive is my social media platform?
What do I stand for as a brand?
Is there a product, service, or idea I can provide that would be helpful?
Is there anything I can reshare that would be helpful?
Is there any copy that I’ve created or am playing to run that would seem strictly in poor taste?
What Now
In these situations, individual advice is the most helpful. With that in mind, I’ll be leading a Zoom session on What to Post Right Now, for THE BOARD, open to the public Friday January 17 at 2 PM ET/ 11 AM PT. It’s a space for you to ask your brand-specific question and I’m here to answer. Click here to add to Google Calendar.
Please also consider a donation to THE BOARD’s partner GLAM4GOOD to provide critical clothing and self-care essentials.
