**Beware, you may need tissues!
There’s a lot of debate lately as to whether or not you should show what you stand for and what you believe in, as it may alienate your prospects.
That is true and that exact thing happened to me. A man invited me to connect on LinkedIn, so as usual I went to his profile and there I found his one and only Pulse post – a pre-election rant. It showed me who he was and I declined the request. Was that a mistake on his part?
The thing about social media is that sooner or later the true you comes out, because we can’t hide forever.
We are in a time where people want authentic, we want to know about the people we are buying from. So an important part of the work I do with my clients is to look at their organisation’s values and how they communicate those.
That means communicating what you stand for AND against – and that can be scary. Nearly 2 years ago my very first (and slightly embarrassing) vlog was about encouraging people to show themselves. Things have moved on a pace from there and below are good examples of 3 household names that have chosen to address the issues facing young women. They have decided to use their brand to actively campaign for things that they consider to be important.
A year ago Always produced a wonderful short video Like a Girl It was so popular that this summer they produced Unstoppable.
Always #Unstoppable
(did you cry?)
In this next video Sanctuary have older women sending messages to young women about ‘just being’, a clear challenge to the superwoman role that is wearing women out and meaning we are missing work-life balance.
Dove have been campaigning for a long time for ‘real women’ to be addressed in marketing and that has won them a lot of support. Their recent campaign #SpeakBeautiful is aimed at combatting the negative speak on social media that is doing significant harm to young women’s body image. They have a twitter feed and a pinterest board all about building young women’s self esteem.
And they made a series of short videos
Many brands worry that if they express an opinion they will alienate customers. It’s true, Dove, Sanctuary and Always may well alienate people. But they are likely to win over so many more.
So, what is it that your organisations stands for AND against? How can you communicate that?
Sure it’s a risk, but hey, you might just attract the very people you would love to work with.
Over to you... What are your experiences of organisations and individuals showing their true colours? Leave a comment below.
Jane x
Jane Binnion is a social media and ethical sales trainer. If you would like to work with Jane email jane@janebinnion.com