This first tip can prove to be much more difficult than it seems. Social issues are always very emotional and have very strong polarizing effects in the community. You may have some very strong opinions on the topic, but should you let those opinions make their way into your company? In our humble opinion, yes. If you are truly passionate about helping a social issue then why wouldn't you want your business to reflect that belief and get on board? If you're truly worried about tarnishing your reputation or offending anyone, there are plenty of ways to help the cause without going public about it. 

  Talk With Your Clients About Any Changes To Their Accounts: It's important to take the proactive step of setting up a meeting when managed social media is involved. Clients would much rather have their digital marketing agency propose solutions or act before an issue arises. When approaching the topic, try to use unbiased language. You don't want to start an argument before the discussion even begins! For example, rather than saying "we think your account needs to be changed up to better reflect the social issues we're seeing," you could try something like "with the change in our current social climate, we thought it would be a good time to review your account and make sure that your scheduled content reflects what you would like it to during this time." Offer suggestions, not demands!

    Make Sure Your Team and Your Clients Understand "Sensitivity":

 If your clients aren't sure why they should be changing their tone or imagery, try to help them understand the social issue better. Explain to them how their current posts or language could be misconstrued as insensitive to the cause, and go on to explain how that would hurt their brand's reputation. Insensitivity can be anything from blatantly going against a social cause to pretending that you don't see it. Socially conscious companies often say that it is best to acknowledge the situation at least once, and then make sure that any subsequent content cannot be misunderstood as opposing the movement.  A company does not have to outright support a cause, but as their digital marketing agency, it's important that you prevent them from moving forward with content that will definitely be problematic. It's called managed social media for a reason; you're the experts in the field and you need to help manage the client's reputation and perception online. By encouraging some simple changes to avoid anything that could spark debate, you could be saving their company's reputation! When in doubt, find ways to be neutral. 

The BusySeed team is lucky to be composed of young-minded, open-hearted individuals who have a hunger for learning. When new social issues arise, our team members take it upon themselves to read up on the topic! We understand how critical it is to stay informed. As a digital marketing agency, we need to understand cultural issues at a deep enough level to explain the issue to clients should we have to. We work with a lot of managed social media accounts, so we need to be aware of what's happening in the social media marketing industry we work in. In order for us to help clients make informed decisions about content, tone of voice, imagery, etc., we need to have a very strong grasp on the issues ourselves. We always make it a point to weed out misinformation, and we turn to the least-biased sources we have at our disposal. We think it's hugely important to see things from the first-person perspective, so we also hunt for articles, videos, or documentaries that tackle the issue from the point of view of those directly involved. You'd be amazed at how much we don't learn at school! Knowledge is power, so you should do whatever you can to educate yourself on the social issue itself, the background, its history, and the culture of those involved directly.