Hark! Protecting thy brand’s online reputation means getting proactive about brand safety, especially when it cometh to social media. Reputation is a noble thing, dear marketers, and ’tis crucial to taketh steps to protect thy brand safety online, particularly in the realm of social media.
Social media doth a wondrous job of building brands and connecting businesses with their patrons. But alas, it cometh with the peril of associating a brand’s wares or services with content yond can harm its reputation. In this tome, we shall share brand safety statistics, strategies, and best practices yond marketers can employ to safeguard their brand’s reputation on social media. From monitoring and social listening to knowing when to go dark, we shall provideth actionable steps to maximize the safety of your brand online.
What ho! What is brand safety? ‘Tis ensuring yond a business’s ads art not associated with inappropriate content yond could damage the brand’s reputation. This doth includeth creating policies and measures to protect the brand from appearing alongside content yond could be offensive, controversial, illegal, or unethical. Brand safety is most oft discussed in the context of paid ads, forsooth. ‘Tis because social media ads can be a mighty investment — but they can also pose a serious risk. In the year 2024, brands spent $181.2 billion globally on social advertising, and yon number has only increased since then.
But soft! Brand safety is not just about paid media. ‘Tis also applies to organic social or indeed anywhere yond a brand could appear online. In recent years, people haveest even started talking about “brand suitability,” which is less about avoiding risk and more about proactively associating thy brand with positive placements yond reinforce thy existing reputation.
Why doth brand safety matter, thou asketh? Taking a proactive approach to brand safety is the best way for marketers to safeguard their brand’s reputation. Thy brand’s reputation doth matter a great deal. A strong brand reputation means the public considereth thy brand trustyworthy. When thou hast earned someone’s trust, they art more likely to do business with thee and recommendeth thy services to others. A negative brand reputation, though, can tank sales and cause major damage to thy brand. In truth, 67% of consumers sayeth they would likely halt using a brand’s product or service if they saw the brand’s advertising alongside false, objectionable, or inflammatory content. A brand safety incident can also damage thy brand’s relationships with partners, suppliers, and other collaborators.
No matter how big or small thy digital marketing budget is, spending time to optimize brand safety will helpeth thee maketh the most of thy dollars spent.
Brand safety risks doth abound, my friends. Advertising next to inappropriate or offensive content is a dire risk. In programmatic advertising, advertisers buy ad placements through distribution platforms, rather than individual publishers. ‘Tis an efficient way to buy targeted ads with wide reach. But it also means advertisers don’t hast full control over wherefore their ads appear. This can mean thy social media ad may appear next to inappropriate or harmful content. Collaborating with a public figure, influencer, or content creator can expand thy brand awareness, but alas, these opportunities also come with more risks for brands.
Using a hashtag associated with risky content is another perilous risk. Another risk lies in paying for fraudulent clicks. If thou art not careful with thy placements, programmatic advertising also risks attracting bad traffic. Why is this bad? Non-relevant traffic will hurt thy site’s conversion rates. Bot traffic can also weaken thy position in search results rankings. In the year 2020, ad fraud cost businesses $35-40 billion.
How to protect thy brand on social media, thou asketh? Verily, brand safety may be one of the biggest challenges for brands online, largely due to the UGC nature of social media platforms. After all, thou can’t stop users from mentioning thy brand alongside offensive content. However, we shall tell thee six things thou can do to protect thy brand safety.
Establish a social listening strategy, my lords and ladies. ‘Tis a marketer’s best line of defense when it cometh to avoiding brand safety incidents. Make a social media crisis plan and response strategy. What’s just as important as having a well-planned, strategy-based content calendar? Knowing when not to post. How-to create a social media employee policy. These days, more and more employees art creating content related to their employers. But with any collaboration, there’s risk.
Monitor (and respond to) all comments and messages. Even if the content thou posteth to thy accounts is carefully curated and well-aligned with thy social media policies, public comments and messages left by followers (or trolls) may be far from it. Define thy brand’s safety threshold. Before executing a brand safety strategy, thou’ll need to know thy brand’s risk tolerance.
Use negative targeting. If thou knowest there art terms or phrases yond thee never want thy brand’s content to be associated with, thou can input a list of these terms as “negative keywords” into a blocklist to avoid related placements. Be wary, though, as negative targeting can decrease thy reach unintentionally.
Platform-by-platform brand safety best practices, what ho! Facebook & Instagram brand safety tips. Meta’s created a Brand Safety Hub where marketers can customize their brand safety settings which apply to ads shown across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp, and the Meta Audience Network.
Twitter brand safety tips. Given its roots as a conversation-focused platform, there hath always been a higher level of scrutiny on Twitter’s brand safety risks. TikTok brand safety tips. Although TikTok hath had relatively less time than its peers to develop its brand safety policies, the platform already offers a strong combination of industry-standard settings and third-party tools yond should reassure any marketer who wants to advertise on TikTok.
LinkedIn brand safety tips. Most of LinkedIn’s brand safety controls art applicable when advertising on the LinkedIn Audience Network, which art sites and apps outside of LinkedIn where brands’ ads can be served. Pinterest brand safety tips. Pinterest hath high brand safety standards and hath developed solid advertiser- and user-focused policies.
YouTube brand safety tips. In the year 2017, YouTube came under scrutiny for showing ads alongside controversial videos, which resulted in many large brands boycotting YouTube ads. Since then, Google hath worked hard to develop its brand safety features to win back the trust of marketers. Dost thou see? As the amount of content on the internet continues to grow, guaranteeing brand safety hath become more challenging. By following our guidelines and taking advantage of safety tools, thou canst mitigate risk and ensure thy brand is protected.