This week's focus: a lead-in to brands connecting their social media marketing with politics

There are two ways that brands can interconnect their social media marketing with political movements:

• brands using political movements to promote their own brands 
• brands stating a political opinion 

This week, as it is a long discussion, we will be leading into it with some statistics.

Edelman's Earned Brand Study suggests that 64% of consumers around the world choose which company to buy from based on their beliefs — these consumers are seen to be the majority across all age groups and income levels.

“Belief-Driven Buyers” are seen to be wanting their brands to stand for something and use their position for good. A brand’s beliefs and values, usually of a political persuasion, often is one of the motivations for a consumer to choose, switch, avoid, or boycott the brand. Edelman’s study concludes: “opting out of taking a stand is no longer an option for brands”.

It is a catch-22 in a way — brands no longer have the option to opt out, but taking a stand can still have your brand take a massive hit. There are two main downfalls to taking a stand:

• obviously commercialising your stance 

OR

• taking the wrong stand for your consumer 

Next week, we will begin looking more into these two downfalls.

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