Is Ragebait a Legitimate Marketing Tool for Florists?

Ragebait is content that is deliberately designed to provoke anger, disagreement or outrage. 

Like most florists I have to use social media as a tool to run my business, to create engagement, showcase my designs and connect with customers.  Over the last few months though I have seen more and more florists posting controversial takes on topics that could legitimately be described as ragebait.

Ragebait is content that is deliberately designed to provoke anger, disagreement or outrage.  Instead of just posting a picture of beautiful flowers, the florist may post that picture but with a tag line of “You don’t need training to be a florist”.  The intention is to make people comment, argue, react in some way and most of all share that content. 

If you have monetised your social media this can lead to a passive income stream and has a huge draw for struggling florists. Social media algorithms reward engagement of any kind, posts with hundreds or thousands of comments can potentially receive more visibility and a post going viral can reward the poster with a nice payment.

Is it good for the industry though? Someone who is perceived as being outspoken or having strong views on the industry can attract followers, who will come to see what opinion they share next, but it can have a polarising effect and you need to have a pretty robust character and a tough skin to withstand some of the comments posted. 

Being controversial can help to cement your place as someone with a distinctive personality, a knowledge of the industry and a confidence in their chosen path.  However, it can also have a damaging effect on your brand, potential wedding clients may not want to engage the services of someone who seems argumentative, disrespectful or dismissive. Other florists and industry professionals may be less likely to collaborate with someone who regularly creates conflict as it may then reflect on their own brands.

There is also a difference between healthy informed debate and manufactured outrage. Asking if a course or trend is genuinely worth the money can encourage useful and informative debate. Deliberately insulting or misleading your audience simply to generate outraged comments is much harder to justify professionally.

For florists looking to use this strategy it is important to understand that attention is not necessarily the same as trust. Long term success comes from building relationships within your community, combining personality and strong opinions with expertise and authenticity.

If you are thinking that this may be an effective way or making more income or drawing attention to your brand, take a minute and consider what you are building with this strategy. A large following may be valuable, but a respected reputation within the floral industry amongst your peers and a reputation for delivering amazing service to your clients is probably worth considerably more.

In a world where everything seems to be polarised, people are starting to look and value respect, authenticity, knowledge and expertise far more. So, whilst ragebaiting may increase your engagement and give you some income, it is far better to build your reputation in the real world by being true to your values and engaging potential customers.

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