I've realized something so important regarding our brand and social media. Addiction and human trafficking simply are not topics that go well with social media these days. For the first couple years, especially the first year, I personally bucked against this hard.
Resentments with Social Media
When our ad marketing account was shut down not once but twice and threatened to shut our entire social media channel profile down, I was very vocal about it. I made posts about it on my personal feeds and contacted these platforms directly complaining. Well, those attempts literally went nowhere and only fueled resentments and frustration in me.
My passion for spreading awareness for these needs while breaking down stigmas formed a deep commitment to figure things out. So we took to posting in ways that still stayed true to our mission while staying clear of keywords that evidently are too taboo and not promoting the positive feelings all the social platforms aim to promote.
Well I thought I'd dealt with these frustrations until the holidays when we released a video explaining what we do...
Most people want to feel good about the clothes they wear and that their brands make an impact in this world. Addiction and human trafficking are two huge areas of need in our day. So we made an apparel brand that donates profits toward ministries fighting addiction and human trafficking and helps you truly be an inspiration wherever you go.
In that description, we mention addiction and human trafficking because you know at some point you sorta have to call a spade a spade kind of thing. After a few minutes of posting and trying to boost the said post, I received a notification that they rejected the video since it didn't promote positive community guidelines and mentioned "social issues." This also means the video fell prey to the algorithm's "safety" measures that limits the video's reach even in the organic (non-paid) regular post.
So I responded the way any passive-aggressive person would in a way that wouldn't get my account lambasted and shut down like before.... I posted a story image expressing my displeasure. Well after sleeping on it, I realized that was a reaction rather than a level-headed response. So I removed that story when I woke up.
The Bottom Line
We live in a day when social platforms limit how we promote things online. Either we abide by these or avoid them entirely. For our brand, we've chosen to remain on all the social platforms we're currently on (pretty much all the popular ones) for the reason of spreading our passion. Society is on these platforms. Is it frustrating and even wrong to be essentially censored? Yes it is. But to reach the masses, these platforms are still where the masses are every day. So for us, we're committed to share our passion and mission in ways that fly according to all these standards while not backing down from that passion and mission.
Our Voice Matters
We refuse to be silenced entirely or remove ourselves off these platforms because the mission we stand for truly is life and death. We know (because of feedback) that one simple post, one simple story, one simple reel, one simple tiktok, one simple episode, one simple podcast, one simple email, and the apparel that we wear ALL are tools to inspire freedom in this world. We exist to promote the beauty of redemption God brings through recovery. Every human on this planet regardless of race or gender deserves to be seen and find the freedom God intended. We can make this world a better place together, one that points toward this beautiful hope together.
Thanks for following us on all the major platforms (facebook, instagram, youtube, tiktok, and pinterest.. oh and twitter too... oh haha and our Podcast too)! Every like, save, comment, share, and subscribe helps us push the reach to more people!
Inspiring the Never Give Up in All of Us,
- Derek
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