In today’s world, you can find people who disagree about almost anything. Even if something doesn’t seem like it would be automatically polarizing, there’s bound to be someone out there who feels passionately about this topic in a way that could cause tension. So if you work in an industry that has obvious people who are for or against your position—like farming, the possession of firearms, health care, and others—it can be hard to know how to promote your business without drawing negative attention or seeing a major backlash.
To help you in navigating this, here are three tips for creating content in today’s highly politicized and polarized world.
Know Your Polarization Strategy
If you know that what you’re selling or the industry you’re working in has some major supporters and opponents, it’s up to you to decide how you want to handle this situation.
According to Zueming Luo, Michael Wiles, Sascha Raithel, contributors to Harvard Business Review, there are generally three strategies you could employ: calming down your opponents, provoking your opponents, or making the polarization between both sides even bigger. Depending on the brand strategy you’re trying to solidify, your strategy will vary. But until you know what you’re wanting to do and how you want people to think about your business or company, it’s going to be hard for you to make anything positive out of this circumstance.
Make Sure You’re Connecting With Your Target Market
Regardless of which of the above-mentioned strategies you choose to go with for your branding and content creation, Andrea Lehr, a contributor to HubSpot.com, shares that what you’ll always want to be sure you’re doing is connecting with your target market.
When creating content about something controversial, what you want to do is know that whatever you’re producing will at least resonate with those who support you. As long as you’re providing something valuable to the people who love and appreciate your brand and business, whatever content you create will at least have a positive result with one faction.
Create Strict Editorial Guidelines
In most cases, your business probably won’t want to be sensational just to create discord between two or more groups. But if you have a polarizing product, this may happen all on its own.
To help you maintain some control over this, Kelsey Libert, a contributor to Moz.com, recommends that anyone who creates content for your company should adhere to strict editorial guidelines. In these guidelines, make sure you’re using accurate information and creating quality content that will be above reproach as far as errors or mistakes are concerned.
If you work for a business or within an industry that has a lot of enemies and has the potential for some bad press, consider using the tips mentioned above as you create your own content to bolster your business.
Originally posted on October 15, 2020 @ 9:15 am