Should You Talk About Politics on Your Business Blog?
With an election cycle objectively crazier than any in recent memory and which has seemingly stretched into infinity, politics seems to be on the tips of everyone’s tongues these days. Everyone has an opinion about every candidate, whether they’ve researched the topic or not.
Chances are, you are set on who you’ll cast your ballot for in November. But should it be a topic of discussion when it comes to your professional business blog? The answer is a resounding: “maybe.” Here’s why, why not, and how you could potentially tread with care.
YES! — If You Have a Niche Market with Direct Political Cause-and-Effect
Discussing politics — along with religion, sex and your prolific fanfic side career — is a distinctive “no no” in most public-facing realms. The nature of politics is that they tend to be, well, divisive. Like, way beyond Star Wars versus Star Trek divisive. It seems like all it takes is two of the wrong words placed too closely together to set someone off on an angry tirade that indicts the speaker’s entire family, state and social sphere.
But some businesses thrive on energetic customer emotions like these. A great example would be a gun rights lawyer who wants to clearly communicate that they empathize with the fear that certain types of rights could be impeded on by proposed law changes. Adopting an unveiled perspective that mirrors much of the discourse in right-leaning circles could actually benefit such a lawyer. “He gets it!” prospective clients will say, hopefully to the firm’s benefit.
Naturally, taking such a bold, unapologetic stance could get you in hot water, but the benefits of negative publicity could actually outweigh the costs if a die-hard political base makes up the bulk of your clients or customers.
NO! — If You Are Abiding by Conventional Common Sense
Politics are a minefield. There’s simply no way to be right, even when you’re simply trying to agree with what the last person said.
The current in-fighting seen within both major political parties is an obvious indication of this problem; suddenly, being a long-time Democrat or Republican is not good enough unless you back the correct Dem or Repub with unequivocal verocity. People within each party base are turning on each other, lashing out against others who dare to think they have a choice in the matter.
So, just like a fight between a bear and a hornet’s nest, it’s best to stay out of it.
MAYBE? — If You Are Willing to Tread with Care
There’s a major business that makes its living talking about politics, and it’s called “the news media.” They get away with it because they are representing themselves as simply the messenger, and no matter how you feel about gun rights you should probably not be shooting the messenger.
Sure, news outlets get accused — sometimes rightly and frequently wrongly — about having a reporting bias. But a motivation to report the facts just as they are without any intent to deceive gives most outlets the benefit of the doubt. Even though some may be apt to decry the “liberal socialist agenda” or the “war-mongering conservatives,” others can point to hundreds of other articles on the site about free comics or saboteur weasels that have little, if anything, to do with politics. Suspected bias in these instances becomes something that bleeds through but doesn’t put forth an obvious agenda.
Your own site can strike this careful tone and attempt to objectively mention politics without invoking too much wrath from the average reader. A good trick is to report extreme opinions as being had by some portion of the population rather than positing them as objective truth. Another handy technique is to pretend you are reporting on politicians in a country hundreds of miles away; take nothing for granted, but leave out all save the bare essentials.
An example of a business that might be able to benefit from such an approach and create meaningful blogs is a healthcare software provider. Asking questions like, “Who’s Health Plan Would Be More Expensive? Bernie’s or Drumpf’s?” would likely yield positive and negatives about either candidate’s opinion while revealing interesting facts about the current state of the system. Most people can relate to a middle ground — even if they are reluctant to admit it — because we see strengths and weaknesses in ourselves.
The key is to entrust objective statistics or true expert opinions while admitting that we don’t really know much for sure at all. It’s a tricky dance, but one that can encourage discussion — some of it perhaps livelier than expected. In the end, what you should hope for is that your audience will pick apart the supposed facts presented rather than turning on you as their messenger.
Entrusting Professional Content Writers to the Task
The simplest solution to ensure that your writing can appeal to a wide range of demographics without sparking a rage fire is to entrust true professional content writers. They can follow your guidelines to the letter while judiciously selecting interesting examples and information, as we have done here. In the end, you can potentially drive up traffic without alienating your company to the public thanks to the expertise and experience a professional writer can offer.
Visit our Atlanta SEO services page to learn more.