Social Purpose

Having a social purpose and strategy that ties into the overall organisations objective is a core driving force behind a brands digital or online presence. A social purpose is what the brand will provide, where it fits into the lives of its consumers needs or challenges. The social purpose is simply the reasoning or purpose behind the brand,for example the mission statement of the organisation embedded into all the organisations activities. For instance Nike brand purpose is very clear, to make everyone and Athlete. 

Brands engage with a social strategy and this is used to engage the consumer through various tactics and web tools such as, corporate website, blogs, apps and other social media platforms. This gives the brand and consumers mutual benefits such as, the former receives complaints, product feedback, brand awareness, product insights and loyalty. On the other hand, the consumers can rant, interact, enquire and express concerns on the brands products or services. Not having an online presence or a social strategy may be considered as a lack of concern for consumers and will ultimately lead to sadness and anger of the consumers towards the brand.

Furthermore,  the main objective of the social purpose/strategy for brands is to increase sales and generate brand awareness through social media. Once a social strategy is in place a brand can easily decide to embed its purpose into all its social gimmicks to increase the bottom-line sales and measure social media effects or success through likes, mentions, shares, comments and views.

However, some brands opt not to engage in the use of social media for a number of reasons such as a lack of budget, resources, skilled personnel,  poor management and evaluation cost.  Sometimes, it could be that the management does not feel the need for social media or questions its effectiveness on a brand. This can have a damaging effect on the brand in the long run.