As an entrepreneur and business owner, I don’t have ‘personal’ social media accounts. I and my views represent those of my business whether I like it or not.
I recently addressed this topic in my social media strategies class. This class is one of the modules in my ‘Launch Your Hypnosis/Entrepreneur Career Now‘ program.
Every time I post something political or controversial I realize that I could be alienating 50% of my audience. I have to ask myself, ‘Could this cause someone to NOT hire me to help them to lose weight or quit smoking with hypnotherapy or cause them to choose someone else to do a motivational speech at their corporate retreat?’
I wrestle with this as did others in the workshop. Maybe you have too. Usually, I only post those political and/or controversial thoughts impulsively.
When I take the time to consider the possible impact of what I want to post I usually stop myself.
But, if your goal is to build a loyal tribe, it makes sense to weed out those not in alignment with the values of your brand.
‘The greater the number who LIKE you, the fewer the number who will LOVE you.’
People that LIKE you/your brand MAY hire you or buy from you, but people that LOVE you/your brand will be EAGER to do so.
If you have a very small audience, you may not be able to afford to alienate a large part of your potential clients and customers.
As you grow your audience, you can become more selective, so it would make sense to evolve this strategy as your brand and audience grow.
One example of a company that was willing to alienate a large part of potential customers is, of course, Nike. You probably remember the company’s controversial Colin Kaepernick ad campaign.
While many people boycotted the company sales actually increased. https://abcnews.go.com/Business/nike-sales-booming-kaepernick-ad-invalidating-critics/story?id=59957137
Nike though is a huge company. I am not.
This is a complicated issue that we all have to navigate in our business. Good luck! And I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Take-aways and things to consider;
• Your strategy on this may evolve as you increase the size of your audience and the visibility of your brand. Safe at first and then bolder over time perhaps?
• For issues that you feel passionate about and believe your input will make a difference on, you should be authentic to yourself.
• I’ve discovered that if I can make the content interesting or funny I’m not as likely to alienate the ‘other side’.
For example, I participated in the *’Muslim Ban’ march several years ago. I live-streamed my experience making jokes along the way. I had people on both sides of the argument watching and engaging.
The only people vocally angered by my participation in the event were those that agreed with me. But they thought that my jokes indicated that I didn’t take it seriously.
As a comedy stage hypnotist and motivational speaker, one of the ways that I get my points across is through comedy.
• Your target audience may also play a part in determining which strategy to use. Millennials and younger generations tend to prefer brands that take a stand. https://medium.com/mission-insight/millennials-prefer-brands-with-purpose-73e72ec4002a
What are your thoughts?
*Yes, I realize I may have alienated some readers with that. 🙂
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