Social Identity
Categories: Ethics/Morals
In finance and economics, social identity refers to an organization’s identity...how it sees itself based on its offerings, customers, suppliers, shareholders, and, of course, the marketing department (they’re the ones who wrap it altogether; well, they try).
An organization or company’s social identity might be carried out by its workers and those who interact with it, as if social identity was pollen and we were all bees passing that pollen between bee-buddies. In short: a company’s branding.
As more and more companies exist (and there is the possibility of reaching customers online), a company’s social identity is more important than ever. No wonder companies are spending so much money on branding. Loyal customers are the best kind: they keep coming back, and they personally recommend the company to other people, which speaks louder to people than online reviews and other avenues for judging companies.
Some companies might incorporate social responsibility into their social identity; for others, it may be a sense of edginess, or coolness, or environmental-friendliness. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to nail down this constructed social identity and project it into the world. It’s gotta be wrapped into the products, social media channels, advertisements, press releases, customer interactions...every touchpoint you could have with a business. Some CEOs might be doing their companies a favor by cooling it on the tweets, though (hi, Elon).
