Bridging the Gap Between Message and Audience

Companies can increase their audience reach and promote a positive brand image by participating in trending moments on social media. However, much consideration must be given to the message and its intended audience or else negative consequences may occur.

For example, Gap posted a statement on X (formerly known as Twitter), calling for unity following the 2020 United States presidential election results. Take a look at a screenshot of the now deleted post below: ↓ The video in the original post depicted the two sides of the jacket being zipped together.

Screenshot courtesy of https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/business/gap-red-blue-shirt.html

The Situation

This attempt at bringing a divided nation together fell short. Why? Because Gap failed to “read the room” during a time of heightened political unease. Tensions were high, and seemingly promoting a piece of merchandise as a solution did not resonate with Gap’s audience. Though later, it was confirmed by a Gap representative that the jacket was never for sale and only produced for digital marketing purposes.

At the time of Gap’s post, more X users identified as democrat than republican. While the public does not have access to Gap’s demographic data, X’s user base could be one indication that the platform was not the right place or time for that particular message. (In case you weren’t aware, the republican party won the 2020 election).

Audience-centric writing and content development should not be set on the backburner. In general, the spirit of working together and moving forward is not inherently wrong – it just did not land right with Gap’s followers or the wider X community considering the circumstances.

Best Practices

To facilitate the best results for a campaign, companies must address their audience’s wants, interests and needs (WIN). This can be achieved by:

• Creating audience profiles from social listening, social media analytics and customer data.

• Developing content to meet the WINs of the target demographic.

• Further tailoring the content to the specific platform it will be posted on.

• Analyzing responses in real time.

Final Thoughts

There are countless ways Gap could have acknowledged the election results. The brand didn’t even have to insert itself into the conversation in the first place. But by failing to anticipate how its followers would react and interpret its message, Gap gave strategic communicators a lesson in the importance of audience-centric writing.