When brands, culture, and issues meet on social media

MANILA, Philippines — Brands have long used social media platforms like Twitter to reach and communicate with their audience and to advertise their products.

But price and quality are no longer the sole factors affecting their decision-making process of consumers.

During a small group meeting with reporters, the Twitter managing director for Southeast Asia, Arvinder Gujral, said that the way brands engage in pressing social issues would also affect the purchasing decision of a consumer.

“Brands make themselves relevant not only by joining discussions but also by initiating conversations on cultural happenings and social issues. Public discourse has become more open than ever,” Gujral said.

Gujral said cultural movements happen on Twitter — such as the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and sexual harassment.

According to him, a movement is defined as the cascading event of multiplying conversations in a platform.

The question now, Gujral said, is: “Can you take an organic movement like #MeToo and create an inorganic movement for a brand?”

Yes, he said, citing several brands that were successful in launching a campaign hinged on relevant social issues.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net on the sidelines of the event, Gujral said that, while some brands were successful in their campaigns, hinging a campaign on social issues could also backfire.

“A brand should know [its personality] before it goes out in the public forum and starts having conversations on topics which may be cultural or political,” he said.

“Because if you’re inauthentic and want to connect yourself to any trending hashtag that is around in a market, your audiences will challenge you on the stand you’re taking. And because you have not thought it through and it is not authentically yourself as a brand, you will not come out well from that conversation,” he added.

He said that brands should only connect to conversations and topics that the firm solidly believed in and were authentic to their personality.

Gujral sees this trend continuing in 2020. but while brands trying to connect with their purpose to the audience looks good on paper, what matters is how they implement it.

“The sweet spot is when what the brand really cares about and those conversations in the boardroom are reflected into the things that they connect with on Twitter and those conversations that happen in the platform,” he said.

/atm