Should Small Businesses Join the #StopHateForProfit Campaign?

30 Jun Should Small Businesses Join the #StopHateForProfit Campaign?

Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Unilever, The North Face, and other global brands have announced recently that they are going to pause all Facebook ad spends in support of the Stop Hate for Profit social initiative. Stop Hate For Profit is asking all businesses to stand in solidarity with our most deeply held American values of freedom, equality, and justice and not advertise on Facebook and Instagram in July. To date, over 160 major companies have joined in on the effort. Some brands are going even further and stopping all ads across Twitter and LinkedIn too.

Stop Hate for Profit is part of a broader boycott organized by Color of Change, Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and other organizations. The supporters are calling on Facebook to be more transparent, take more accountability for content that is posted and promoted through its platforms, and to do its part as a platform to advance only credible news sources and campaigns.

The organizers state that Facebook has been socially irresponsible in a number of ways. They allege, for example, that Facebook turned a blind eye to voter suppression on its platform rather than help get the vote out. They also allege that Facebook allowed incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so many others.

So, what does Stop Hate for Profit want all advertisers and businesses to do? Put a financial dent in Facebook’s revenue, which was reportedly close to 70 billion dollars, and pause all advertising for the month of July.

Should Small Businesses Participate in Stop Hate for Profit?

A recent article in Forbes adds some insight stating that, “businesses that have publicly stated support for Black Lives Matter on their social media channels, need to take a long hard look at whether their ad dollars are undermining their lofty words by funding a platform which directly contravenes their values.”

We believe that businesses that support the BLM movement should strongly consider pausing all ad spends in July. We’re at a time now where many small businesses have already suffered greatly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the current civil rights movement taking place nationally and globally has supporters expecting businesses and brands to join them in taking a stand to effect change. Consumers have taken note and are taking notes on businesses that are doing their part to be socially conscious and supportive of the civil rights of Black Americans. There is no question that Americans of all races and ethnicities are beyond frustrated with the injustices upon African-Americans in this country including the senseless killings of Black Americans,

Therefore, we do recommend that small businesses join the movement and also take a stand.

How Your Small Business Can Continue to Advertise While Paused for #StopHateForProfit

If your small business plans to participate and pause Facebook and Instagram ad spends, here are some practical things you can do to ensure that your business still reaches your target client or consumer. If you have questions or are interested in running any of the campaigns below, we can help! Schedule a free consultation here.

1. Communicate to your followers you plan to participate. Let your fans know you’re joining the movement and you stand in solidarity with efforts to stop hate. Include a cause of action to subscribe to your email list for exclusive deals or opportunities.
2. Ramp up and amp up your email marketing efforts. In line with the above, convert email subscribers to customers or clients. Send special deals to your current email subscribers as a special thank you.
3. Reinvest your ad dollars to Pay-Per-Click campaigns. Social Channel is a big fan of PPC ads as they tend to reach people in the buying or booking stage of the process. Many small businesses are able to convert more sales or book more consultations through PPC ads. A PPC ad are search ads that typically appear at the top of search results with the word “ad” next to the search result.
4. Run even more targeted ads via IP Targeting Campaigns. We are big fans of IP targeted ad campaigns as they are even more effective than PPC campaigns. IP Targeting is one of the fastest-growing ad platforms and is used by small businesses, politicians, global brands, and across almost every industry.
5. Try Venue Replay advertising. Venue replay advertising serves ads to smartphones and other wifi enabled devices that register once the device enters a specific location. For example, if you know your target client or consumer shops at ABC Store, Inc., advertisers can track the device location and begin to serve ads to the device once it registers to the geo-fenced location. For example, imagine one car dealership setting a geofence to a competitor car dealership then serving ads to every device that entered the competitor’s device using the same ad exchange as Google ads (PPC).
6. Launch your blog. Your website is your content hub. Doing everything you can to drive traffic to your website is really going to get you the most ROI on your marketing efforts. Writing content that serves your audience, that is searchable, and includes a call to action is going to get you much further than running occasional Facebook ads.

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Questions about any of the above? Contact us at info (at) socialchannelmarketing.com. We’re here to help!