For the longest time, the digital space has provided a huge leeway for people’s activities—whatever nature they may have. However, in recent years, that’s slowly being changed. 

As more and more people gain access to the online world and its communities, guidelines and rules have become necessary to preserve peace, order, and respect for one another. Being online nowadays is more similar to being out and about in the real world. This means that offensive and other unbecoming behavior have no place online, the same way it’s not condoned in the physical realm. 

And of course, digital marketing is not an exception, specifically its most popular form—social media marketing. For this reason, social media management agencies in the Philippines have made it a point to always follow and exhibit proper etiquette when online. 

If like many others you’re at a loss, here are four simple things you can do—as an online brand—to improve your social responsibility and become a conscientious social media marketer.

 

Be Meticulous with Your Content Research

When creating content for posting and sharing on your website or social media page, you must practice thorough research. After all, this information will not be for your eyes only—your audience, and many more, will be the target of your posts, blogs, and content. This means that your brand or business has greater responsibility for checking details and making sure that they’re truthful and relevant. 

For instance, when including statistics in your content, be sure to trace the information back to its main source. Oftentimes, you’ll discover that a lot of numbers presented online date back to 5 or even 10 years ago, which will not be relevant to today’s social media audience or will not accurately reflect what you want to say as a brand. 

With that said, always double-check your facts and figure before you post online. As an entity with reach and influence, it’s your responsibility to present factual content to users or consumers. Don’t contribute to disinformation online!

 

Share Content Carefully

Sharing and curating content on your social page is excellent for building rapport and relationships with consumers and potential customers, however, you shouldn’t do it blindly. No matter how on-trend, appealing, and convincing an article, post, or infographic may be, there should be a process to things, specifically verification and attribution.

Keep in mind that in this digital era information is everywhere—be it truthful or made up. If you carelessly share or give a platform to information/content that’s not backed by evidence, you’re going to contribute to the rampant practice of dishonesty and fabrication online. 

And most concerning of all, you’ll be labeled as a purveyor of misinformation, which will permanently damage your brand’s reputation, influence, and your consumers’ trust. Be mindful of what you share and make sure it’s factual!

 

Stay Away from Fake News

All of us are given a great amount of freedom when online—businesses and brands included. But that doesn’t mean that we can do anything we want and abuse the liberty that we’ve been afforded. Just as in the real world, we have to follow rules and guidelines online, especially when it comes to sharing information. As we all know, one of the biggest problems that social media platforms face at present includes the spreading of fake news. 

To not add to the chaos, brands should commit to a zero-tolerance policy for fake news and develop a strategy to identify and report them. Not only will this prevent further disinformation online, but it will also be of benefit to businesses, specifically when it comes to building trust, influence, and reputation online. Don’t be a peddler of fake news!

 

Be True to Yourself / Brand

If there’s one thing that attracts people to a product or brand, it’s authenticity. As a brand, you should strive to be truthful at all times, particularly when it comes to what you offer. You should give an accurate account of how your products and services work—more so when it comes to what users can expect from them. 

Providing a false image of what your products or services can do will lead to customers boycotting your brand, negative publicity, and your brand’s reputation being permanently destroyed. 

Being honest with your audience from the get-go will help you build trust, which will serve as the foundation of your business’ success. Always be honest!

 

Other Things to Improve On

 

Besides being socially responsible when it comes to your brand’s marketing practices, you can also make use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to boost your business’ online influence. It works by optimizing your web pages so they can rank higher in search engine results (Google is a great example). The higher you rank in the search results, the more people will be able to access or visit your website—leading to improved sales and traffic. 

 

With digital marketing on the upset, SEO services in the Philippines have become abundant. This means that you won’t have a difficult time finding one that will suit your brand’s needs!