June is known as Pride Month, a time to celebrate, raise awareness, and show support for the LGBTQ+ community. And as consumers have grown to expect transparency and authenticity from the brands they support, it’s more important than ever to be clear about your values and where you stand on social issues.
Still, there are some right and wrong ways of going about this. Consider the following best practices when planning a social media campaign during Pride Month.
Don’t Make It All About You. While it’s certainly OK to share things like inclusive company policies (and if you don’t have any in place yet, that’s a good place to start), remember that Pride is bigger than your brand. The LGBTQ+ community has faced extreme adversity to get to where they are today—and the work still isn’t done. Before posting anything, ask yourself what value you are adding to the conversation and what you’re hoping to gain from your social media campaign.
Do Put Inclusivity at the Center. This is a time to amplify LGBTQ+ voices, starting with those of your own employees. Using them as a sounding board for your ideas will ensure that your campaign is respectful, culturally sensitive, and dialed in to the actual needs of the community. Going a step further, consider putting them (or other members of the LGBTQ+ community) at the forefront of your social media campaign in a way that is natural and authentic.
Don’t Be Performative. Also referred to as “slacktivism,” performative activism essentially means exploiting a social cause or initiative solely for attention, praise or monetary gain. It’s about looking like you’re doing the work without actually doing it—and it’s particularly easy to do on social media. While the intention behind changing your profile picture, sharing a post, or using a hashtag to “show support” is often good, you need to have more to back it up. Otherwise, it’s all just lip service that often does more harm than good. In fact, brands have faced considerable backlash from both consumers and their own employees for engaging in performative activism.
Do Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. And we mean that both literally and figuratively. Beyond just posting on social media, your online message should match up with your IRL actions. Whether you donate to LGBTQ+ organizations, spend time volunteering, or re-examine own internal business practices, be sure to take actionable steps toward supporting the LGBTQ+ community. By doing so, you also put yourself in a better position to ask your social audience to follow suit; for example, by adding donation stickers to your TikTok videos or Instagram stories.
Don’t Set It & Forget It. Although Pride is a time to be loud and proud, don’t go radio silent as soon as the month ends. We tend to see a lot of “rainbow washing” around this time on social media (think: brands temporarily using rainbow versions of their logos) and returning to “business as usual” for the rest of the year. Remember: Pride represents the identities and livelihoods of an entire community. It isn’t a passing trend to take advantage of.
Do Support LGBTQ+ Initiatives Year-Round. Being a true ally means showing your support throughout the year, rather than limiting yourself to a single month. These actions could be as simple as encouraging your employees to include their pronouns in their social profiles and ensuring all posts throughout the year show diversity. In addition, your company should have long-term policies in place to support your LGBTQ+ employees and create a more accepting workplace.
All in all, celebrating Pride Month should start within your company and then extend outward into your marketing. By doing so, you can use your social media platforms to truly uplift the LGBTQ+ community, spark important conversations and inspire others to take action.
In the spirit of Pride, please consider supporting a few LGBTQ+ organizations that are dear to our hearts: our clients at onePULSE Foundation, 26Health, APLA Health and Crew Health.