It might not be something that you consider right off the bat, but ethics play a crucial role in the building of a successful and reputable brand. Essentially, consumers and clients expect a brand or company to act responsibly and ethically, with the result of not doing so being negative publicity, a loss of trust, and a decline in sales/income.
Following the expected ethical behavior of both business and general humanity is something that can help to set a brand apart from its competitors and establish a loyal base, especially if you are willing to go above and beyond the base level. Industry data and experts have long shown that brands that prioritize their ethics and sustainability pledges are the ones that succeed and thrive in this modern age of business and commerce. Customers expect, nay demand, ethical behavior!
Behaving and operating in an ethically sound manner is also something that is going to attract and retain the best talent for your company. Overall, incorporating good ethical blueprints within your brand is something that is always going to lead to long-term success.
Here are some key pointers on how to make sure that you are operating on a strong, ethical footing when it comes to the online side of your ventures.
1. Be Transparent
First and foremost, you need to be as open and honest about your brand and with your consumer base regarding your intentions and your values. The worst thing that you can do on this front is to mislead your demographic and hide important information that might make a difference in their decisions towards you and your business. In the modern age of business and transparency, you won’t be able to keep a glaring secret for long, so start on the right foot and you will never have to go down the ‘public apology’ route that so many brands suffer.
2. Respect Privacy
Never get into a position where you are using customers’ personal information without their consent. The online world is scary enough without people having to worry about betrayal from brands they thought they could trust. Respect the choices that people make involving their data privacy preferences, and make sure that you always stay on the right side of the ethical divide. If you are going to acquire an audience, such as by the purchase of Instagram accounts from Fameswap, you need to apply the same ethical principles to the accounts, even if you have to do so retrospectively.
3. Avoid Harmful Content
Absolutely stay away from posting content that promotes any kind of hate, violence of discrimination of any kind. When you have an impressionable and diverse audience base, you need to be mindful of just how much of an impact your choice of words, images and messages can have.
4. Engage In An Authentic Way
As much as you can avoid it, try not to set up a plethora of bots and AI assistants on your various social media platforms. There is nothing more annoying for a potential customer than going around in circles with a robot assistant giving generated responses. The best way to build a trustworthy and strong relationship with consumers is to address them directly and put them in contact with real people who can give real answers. With the ability to have all of your various contact apps right in the palm of your and your staff’s hands, there really is no excuse not to handle as much as you can without turning directly to the faceless, nameless bot responses.
5. Give Back!
Make sure that your relationship with your customer base isn’t just a one-way street. You should be using your social media platforms to do things like promote social good and give back to the larger and wider community. You can use FameAudit to get a greater understanding of your audience which will help you with targeting.
Try to link up with local charities and do things to make a positive change in your immediate environment, and this will hopefully be able to lead you towards making a difference on a much more national and international scale as well. When audiences can see that you are going above and beyond and not just relying on making a profit for yourself, their attitudes towards you will be much more positive and you will be held in higher esteem versus competitors that aren’t necessarily doing the same thing.