Today, more than ever, women are faced with navigating the triple challenge of living in a socio-economically unequal society, slow to close gender pay gap, and managing family households, while trying to ensure these challenges don't affect career progression. Women’s Month in South Africa gave us the opportunity to highlight the invaluable and central role women play in households, organisations, and society at large.
Much like the more than 20,000 women that marched to the Union buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the Apartheid government’s Pass laws for women, today’s women, and brands too, have a cause to fight. A fight to be heard, understood, and seen – in all their intersecting roles.
In the fast-paced world of social media, where clicks, hits and views constitute certain meaning and value, there lies a need for brands to not only to lift up social issues through speaking out and actively getting involved, but to also integrate the voices of women they employ and serve in the work they do, meaningfully.
We asked Sizakele Nene, Head of Social at Edelman South Africa, about the importance of diverse and inclusive marketing on social media, as well as brands’ responsibility to be inclusive and purposeful in their initiatives online.
1. What’s your take on the pressure for brands to speak up on social issues?
I think that brands have a responsibility to uplift and amplify the voices of the people who support them, especially if those people include groups who are marginalised or previously disadvantaged. Apart from the fact that people expect the brands they support to share their views, it’s the right thing to do. We can absolutely make a positive difference while making a profit – in fact, we’ve seen trends in increased brand loyalty when people trust brands to do the right thing.
2. What steps can we take to ensure that our social media campaigns for Women's Month are inclusive and representative of the diverse experiences of South African women from various backgrounds?
I think being inclusive is a commitment that needs to be made beyond campaigns on days of commemoration. People are pretty adept at picking up when initiatives are performative and that often results in negative reception online, distracting from the actual solutions to real issues at hand. The first step to an impactful Women’s Month campaign is a real, long-term commitment to empowering women and using your social media to amplify this message. Another extremely important step is having a team that realistically represents the people you’re marketing to.
3. Should all brands participate in discussions about women’s issues?
A general rule when deciding whether you should speak about a societal issue as a brand is if it affects your online audience, who we can assume would be your customers. I’ve often heard marketers say that brands who previously haven’t spoken up about things should keep it that way as it may be shocking to their audiences, but I’m of the view that there’s never a bad time to start. Women’s issues, LQBTQ+ issues, racial issues etc. affect all of us or our loved ones in one way or another, so when the brands we support work with us to build solutions and amplify the struggles associated with these issues, we all benefit. However, the watch out here is ensuring that action is aligned with your brand values, and relevant to your audience.
4. How do brands identify and align with social causes that resonate with their audience while maintaining authenticity?
The first thing is committing to the social cause internally and not just on social media. In the past, we’ve seen brands speak about being committed on social media while their internal structures still don’t reflect this and, audiences pick up on this and it becomes an expensive exercise in damage control which a lot of brands never truly recover from. The next step is understanding your audience well enough to identify the issues that they most identify with and being able to partner with them in building your campaign in ways that make a difference beyond your social media ads.
5. What strategies do you employ to engage your audience and foster meaningful conversations on social media?
What constitutes as a meaningful conversation differs from one audience group to the next. It’s imperative that you have a firm understanding of your audience’s needs, challenges, and interests so that you’re able to drive a message that adds value to them. Women in South Africa have an array of concerns and issues, and if we’re to tackle these on social media, it’s really important to understand that women in this country don’t have a homogenous experience.
6. What about negative feedback/backlash for a campaign addressing a social issue?
The key to navigating such issues is building trust, which is the core of our business as Edelman. This is done by knowing your audience, and what they care about. Further, it’s also about ensuring actions taken are aligned to your values as a brand. Having partnerships with relevant groups and communities who can be credible voices and third party advocates for you. If you get it wrong, having trust with your core communities and advocates will mean you rebound quicker.
We have the unique opportunity as brands to influence, facilitate meaningful conversations, and make a lasting change.