I feel like my views of whether you should speak your mind on social media are in the midst of evolving. And it’s time for me to write this out.

Why? Because I think the world is changing and more is at stake at this moment. So we are facing more reasons to speak up, and it’s beginning to look bad if we don’t. Figuring out how to strike a balance is a major skill set that is needed in this time period. But how to navigate that is still confusing simply because it’s not quite this cut and dry.

So let’s walk through this and see when you absolutely should speak your mind.

Your brand is directly affected

If a piece of policy is going to affect your brand in some way, it would look weird if you didn’t say something. And it could look like you support something you absolutely don’t.

For example, many international brands have felt the effects of various tariffs. One of my favorites was Cloud and Victory. Suddenly the company had to navigate pre-selling items that they were not sure they’d actually be able to ship. So the brand openly said what was going on and how they disagreed with this. At the same time, they reassured buyers in the United States that they would receive immediate refunds if they could not ship anything from their pre-sale. Thankfully, no refunds were necessary.

If the issue affects your brand as directly as tariffs did to so many, then near-constant information while being open about how much you disagree with a policy is necessary. Otherwise, it will look odd. And your sales may suffer from the silence. If it’s a choice between a slight cut in sales or having all of them gone, it’s obvious that a small cut is worth taking the time to speak your mind.

Your audience is directly affected

This is where a lot of brands are tripping up right now: They don’t understand what affects their audience also affects them. It may be indirectly, but it’s there.

For example, if your audience is made up of those living with a rare disease, it only makes sense to say something about what is going on with health insurance premiums right now. Making sure to speak your mind here is good, but it’s not quite enough. Taking action, giving your community actions and then finding resources to help with soaring health care costs is a more complete response. At this point, words without actions are not the greatest. So striving for the complete response will get you a better reaction.

This is one of the reasons why you really need to know your audience backwards and forwards. Knowing their wants and needs will give you a better idea of when a policy might be affecting them adversely. And that will tell you what you should speak your mind about and have your audience on your side.

Your social media manager is mentally healthy

I bet you were wondering why I put this in the mental health category of my blog. It’s because mental health is one of the most important aspects about whether you should speak your mind.

When you are trying to decide if it is worth it, bring in your social media manager as soon as possible. You can then get the temperature of your audience at that moment. But also you can ask whether they are up to what can amount to a troll attack. Do they have the mental capacity? If not, what can you do to support them? Being as open and direct as possible will allow you to set up a response to any trolls that isn’t emotional and is effective and focused.

And then anticipate that this might end up being too much for your social media manager. What kind of check-ins will they need? What tasks can be re-assigned to free up their mental power for the responses? Knowing that taking the time to speak your mind will end up eating up a lot of your social media manager’s time for their other work is key here. Then you can prevent any mistakes and social media burnout.

If you feel like you can provide the support system your social media manager needs, it’s a great time to speak your mind.

It’s just the right thing to do

One of the most disturbing things I ever saw on social media was a video of Ms. Rachel rocking back and forth while repeating to herself that it will be okay. She had chosen to speak her mind in support of children. It honestly seemed like it was the end of her career.

Obviously, it wasn’t. She’s now one of the most successful female performers, and she’s doing good at every turn. And it has a lot to do with the fact that she did what she felt was the right thing to do.

I’m not telling you to post a video of yourself rocking back and forth. But if you decide to speak your mind about something, be open about the effects of doing what you thought was right. The more transparent you are, the more your community can help you ride through the consequences. Because in the end, it’s likely very important to your community as well. And they likely respect you for doing it. And your community is there for you to lean on in times of trouble. So now is the time to do so.

Have you ever decided to speak your mind as a brand on social media? How did it go?