PR Squared: Don't Get Sandbagged

IStock_000002268146XSmall A client recently informed us that they were about to hire some outside bloggers to post stories about their industry – with copious links to their site, ‘natch. Red flag.

Would the bloggers clearly articulate where the funding for their newly-minted blog was coming from? Nope. Burn the red flag. Run for cover!

Luckily we were able to kill the initiative, to the chagrin of the SEO-lovin’ marketer who’d been sold on the idea. This blogging-for-hire effort might have boosted SEO for the company, but the reputation cost would have far outweighed the benefits, had this chicanery been exposed.

(For the record, the marketing execs were simply under-informed about the nature of the blogosphere; once we explained how their project plan was basically a slap in the face to all that’s bloggy, they quickly and graciously backed off.)

Lesson of the day, for PR professionals: Do not get sandbagged by clients experimenting in Social Media. It’s good that they want to experiment; it is to be encouraged, but, it is our responsibility to hold their hands a bit. After all, some lessons have been learned, and we must communicate these lessons to our clients and peers.

And first off, we need to ask our clients what they might be up to, across the marketing spectrum – lest we be painted with the same brush, when & if the client makes a bad call in the Social Media sphere.