Can anyone ever have “perfect” ethics?
Why should you be ethical?
Ethics are important for every line of business including anything in all forms of media including social platforms. Successful ethical marketing includes trust and relationships, positive word of mouth, and guiding principles. Having poor ethics in the world of social media can be detrimental to your brand so choose wisely on what you say, and how you act because one misstep and that could create a whirlpool of problems that may be hard to recover from. As a brand, being ethical is a responsibility in both the professional environment as well as personal ethics. When representing a brand having strong ethics is a trait that everyone should have to keep a positive light shed on you and the brand you work for.
Social Media and Ethics Go Hand In Hand
Knowing your audience is the most important aspect of maintaining a strong social platform and positive reputation. When using social media, you must know who you are targeting, right? Your audience, their interests and preferences are on the top of the list to get to know them and create those relationships needed to start engagement. Your audience can start out broad but homing in on who you want to target the most can be credited by refining and focusing on that specific group. To reach that group, you must know what they want to hear and what they would like to receive. To catch their eye, sending messages out to grab their attention will help discover your specific target market and result in more engagement from that population.
Have you heard of Ferrero U.S.A.?
Ferrero U.S.A. is the brand behind the infamous hazelnut spread, Nutella but has been known to be a bit unethical. In 2012, Ferrero U.S.A. had a class-action lawsuit against them and was sued by a mother of three from California who alleged that Ferrero falsely advertised that Nutella is nutritional when a candy bar is just as “healthy.” This could be considered unethical for a company, right? Nutella was advertised as a food that promotes children’s growth and development if they consume it, of course. The plaintiffs of the case stated that Nutella is far from being nutritious and part of a “balanced breakfast” because of the fact it contains about 70% saturated fat and highly processed sugar. Not only was this information misleading but it was also unethical. Some would argue and ask why someone would think a chocolate based spread would be healthy but that is up to your interpretation. Do consumers think everything they read is right? Yes, they do and this situation is no different. This brand pulled the wool over the eyes of everyone witnessing the advertising of Nutella. This unethical practice targeted children which tend to be more of an influential group than any other.
Can we put together a list of ethical practices to help brands like Ferrero U.S.A.?
Here are 3 tips to help your brand stay as ethical as possible.
1. Stay away from controversial topics: Controversial topics create riffs between brands and the communities that follow and invest in them. Anything included in politics and religion can be a touchy subject, so it is best to stay away from them. The wrong post could result in a huge public relations disaster and the loss of your job, just because of a small mistake so, be careful!
2. Privacy, privacy, privacy: Policy rules are set in place for a reason. You do not want to cross the line when it comes to policy rules because that shows you have set rules in place and yet you are not willing to follow your own guidelines that are there to protect you and your brand. Privacy is very important because it protects you, your brand, and everyone around you.
3. Think before you post: When posting information or content on any form of social media you must think about what you are writing before you click that submit button. Negative perceptions of your brand may be formed if the wrong information is posted. The internet also has a bunch of false information swirling around and you don’t want to be a part of the false information.
Would you want to support or represent a brand that is unethical?
Brands that we buy from or support every day get caught in unethical situations because they do not watch what they say or do on social platforms. Social media is a big factor in most brands marketing and popularity in 2021. Today, everyone has a form of social media and most get their news from them. News travels fast on any platform, so when posting any unethical content, it could travel even faster than other news. No brand will ever have perfect ethics, but you and your brand could work towards being better every day to help avoid posting incorrect information. This is just the start to ethical practices, but that’s just it, they are ethical practices meaning no one will ever do everything right but you sure can try.
