Social media is very, well, social. Good companies interact with social media users and not just use their account for pushing news from their websites. People want to engage with you. Engage! Have fun! As I have preached and preached, social media is “social.”
Speaking of preaching, there are a couple of things your social media managers and your business should avoid – talk of religious and political issues.
Now I admit, I have posted political and religious things on my personal/professional Twitter account. But I have NEVER posted anything like that for the businesses I represented, (*a quick note – I worked for a local government, so some of the posts may have been “political” but they were related to government business). No one cares about your business’ politics, but they will quickly care if you share your politics and it happens to be different from their own.
I did an informal, unscientific study on Facebook. I posted on my account that if people wanted to know my political opinion, they should ask me. No one did. But a few days after I posted something about the Affordable Care Act, I had to delete the post because people went crazy on me and others. I didn’t even post an opinion, just information.
The current trend with people, especially in the United States, is to explode when something remotely and opposingly political is mentioned. Take a duo of hurricanes that hit the United States and Caribbean. One mention about climate change and the fighting begins. I even saw arguing over the politics of charity donations! A member of Congress is injured, sick, or dead and if his politics was different than a user, the bashing begins.
Even if the political climate is calmer, just keep your politics to yourself.
One day when I was on Twitter, a company, well known for its work in the Public Relations industry and respected worldwide posts this:
Gun crazies are told to stop carrying weapons into Sonic and Chili’s.
So I tweeted at this company:
“Gun-crazies?” I read the article before getting all worked up. Which I suggest most people do before getting worked up about something. The article said that people wanted to open carry firearms in restaurants. Nothing was mentioned about the gun owners being mentally unstable. I could go on a rant about using “crazies” and how it insults those with mental illness, but I refrained.
WOW. That tweet title is not very nice. “Gun crazies?” Disappointed.
Their reply?
What do you call people that bring semi-automatic assault rifles into family restaurants? Normal?
My reply? Unfollow.
I stopped subscribing to their communications. No newsletters. No social media. I lost all respect. Note this was years ago. I am still disappointed in the post. I still will not do business with them. I have not shared who the organization is, although you could easily find out. However, my little boycott will not matter due to the company’s size.
Other examples that made national news:
- Chick-fil-A president deletes anti-gay marriage tweet (CNN)
- KitchenAid Tweets Joke About Obama’s Dead Grandma (Mashable)
But think about your small business. Can you handle the backlash from a political post? Check out this quote from a Pew study:
39% of social media users have taken steps to block another user or minimize the content they see from them because of something related to politics.
39%. Can you stand to lose 39% of the relationships you worked so hard to build because you HAD to post about politics? By the way, this study was done before the 2020 election. I can imagine that percentage is higher now.
You have worked hard to build your business and reputation. Don’t lose it all because you can’t keep your politics to yourself.
Lisa Sedlak 