The Scandal That Will Knock Marketing On Its A$$
While tactics may vary, at the macro level there is only one way for marketers to reap rewards from Social Media: via candid & transparent participation with their “audiences” (customers, prospects, etc.).
But there are at least three ways for marketers to utterly screw up their opportunities in Social Media…
1. Lack of transparency due to ignorance (as discussed in the post, “Blogger Relations: Good Intentions, Bad Execution, Lessons Learned”).
2. Overcommitment to techniques they don’t fully understand (as discussed in the post, “Beware the GMOOT!”), which leads to disappointment & premature abandonment of Social Media principles.
3. Cynical exploitation of the Rules of Engagement.
It’s this last that concerns me most. I can’t name names but I recently saw a proposal from a so-called guerilla marketing agency which included this tactical approach:
After gaining a sense for the community at the blog/user forum, our rep (posing as a typical user) will begin to post up to 10 separate Comments over the course of a week or two, to achieve credibility – leading up to the post that will be of-value to the client.
“Then, another of our reps (also posing as a typical user), will come in a day later – using a different IP address – to thank the original poster for the ‘great find.’”
It’s GOOD to “gain a sense for the community” and to “achieve credibility” as a user. The approach highlighted above is a perversion of what’s been discussed, ad nauseum, re: Social Media in general, and Blogger Relations in particular.
Yet such proposals are proliferating, I fear. Worse, some clients think that this represents a clever approach; a way to “work the system.”
When such deluded and scornful approaches are discovered and outed by the blogosphere, the bad guys will blithely skip away with a smirk … while all the good & wholesome practitioners are gonna stay behind to protest, explain, autopsy, etc.
And by fighting that good fight, we’ll get smacked upside the head, poked in the eye, punched in the belly and knocked on our collective asses. Again.
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It is frightening, but sometimes it is down to ignorance. I caught a client of mine in posting under a different name. It wasn’t through any evil intent but they thought it was worse to be seen to be supporting their own product in public – too pushy. But that’s the modest Danes for you.
I sense a theme — a bad one — during the past few weeks. PR people suck. They are lazy, dishonest shysters. (See Chris Anderson/WIRED and other posts.)
Is it the chase of the almighty $$?
Is it because they think they can get away with it?
Is it because they have such low disregard for people that they “meet” only via email, blogs and forums?
I think the colleges and universities need to include a morals course or three in all communications majors.
That example you gave, Todd, is sooooooo very wrong. And, like you, I do think that, that approach is too typical.
The only good thing about this is that the blogosphere is so good at eventually filtering out these PR weasels. Sooner or later, they’ll get caught.
And, leave the rest of us to fight to maintain the honest reputation each has honestly earned.
–Mike
FWIW, Mike, that outrageous proposal did NOT come from a PR firm.
Which points to two issues:
1) Who cares? It will be perceived that way.
2) “Blogger Relations” is not being strictly seen as a PR responsibility. (You can argue whether that is good or bad, I suppose, but in this case I’d rather that a competent PR agency jump in, vs. the guerilla marketers who espoused this approach.)
Agreed that the universities can be, should be (and may be, for all I know) focused on Ethics as a core part of the PR curriculum.
Todd,
Guess I see “guerilla marketing” as being part of public relations, in the broader sense (rather than strictly media relations).
As Jeremy Pepper and I’m sure others pointed out (including me to my dpt director several times), social media is the one area of marketing where nearly all agencies will collide and stake a claim: traditional PR, advertising, interactive/web design and even specialist agencies.
– Mike
This raises an interesting question – should PR firms be commenting on behalf of companies they represent? If the idea is to create trust and transparency, shouldn’t a representative from the company should be posting?
I bring this up because I had a firm recommend this strategy. My initial reaction was – you shouldn’t be doing this. However, I do recognize that due to resources and time constraints, a company rep may not be able to comment.
So what would your thoughts be on this?
How do these people live with such blatant ethical transgressions? FUBARed, what a sad story.
I think the comments here address questions a lot of us have. In my opinion, Guerrilla marketing can be anything from the Boston-Aqua Teen Hunger Force-type stunts to a YouTube video with the intent to drum up awareness. PR, on the other hand, can use these tools (for example, a YouTube video) to help generate understanding around a product or service by handling these relations within the community. I may have that wrong, and not sure if the distinction makes sense. Regardless how the executer is identified, transparency is a must.
In regards to commenting on blogs, normally the company spokespeople answer. If your CEO is busy (which is often the case), it might not hurt to have a community manager from the marketing team to act as the social media face of the company. Dell, LinkedIn, Intel and others have already created these positions. If a PR professional must comment, that person must be easily identified as being related to CompanyXYZ.
If digg self-promotion IS used, again there must be a clear indication of the identity and relationship with the article/company. The community will decide whether the article will rise.
I’m amazed at how many potential clients still think that posting under fake names is a good marketing tactic. My answer is usually that if you can create enough noise out of that to actually matter, you’ll end up caught and looking like an idiot.
I expect that where firms will end up joining the ranks of the bad guys is when clients insist on these kinds of tactics, and they need the money.
Great post Todd.
Did you see the PR Newswire request for thoughts on why it is now okay to ghost blog? Are we going backwards or forwards?
I think the community and associations need to call out the agencies and people who participate in these sort of inappropriate behaviors.
@Mike
Regarding your point about what do they teach in schools. I think I would not worry too much about that. Though keeping students up to date is a goal to pursue. I’d worry more about experienced communications professional leading junior professionals down the wrong path. That’s why if something does blog up it’s important for all the community to comment on it. As the community can act as a counter weight to poor leadership.
TD – this is classic it reminds me of the line “I’m shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in here,” the first person to post the name of that movie will get a $10 Subway card.
Background
You raise a wonderful topic – trust. You didn’t think it was going to be that heavy, but the fact is, that’s what we have here.
Technology is once again racing ahead of the rationale to apply it well.
This time, unlike the 90s, it cuts to our very core as humans the need to be recognized as individuals and to be part of a larger group. It also twists the knife into the Achilles heel of capitalism, which is competition and greed.
Points
1) Social media believes in transparency, honest discussion, and civility
2) Financial markets rewards growth and meeting prescribed expectations. It usually penalizes the straight-forward discussion of events
3) Media, as consumed by most Americans, benefits from conflict and in our sports oriented, entertainment dominated society there must be a victor and a loser. Also there must be a solution before the consumption of my next event.
4) Political system benefits accusers over the accused which caters to the media (see number 3)
5) Legal system has become an apparatus to paralyze innovation, and a source of revenue rather than a resort for justice
6) Companies reward plans and predictive behavior. They usually can’t handle an unknown or unpredictable.
All of these things run counter to the brilliance of social media. Because social media, absent the consultants, gurus, et al addresses the need in humans to be connected
At its essence, social media is a movement. It is a movement to repair the cynicism that has gripped our society. It is a medium that allows for the voices in the middle to speak as loudly as those on the extreme, It allows for the questions to be asked that are not intended to bait, deceive, or entrap, but to enlighten, educate, and advance the discussion.
Hey in the spirit of social media disclosure, I pay my mortgage and the salaries of employees by providing communications advice. But I have to say, we are not dealing with some new kind of printing technique for direct mail or even some technology platform upon which to put your marketing stuff.
We are dealing with the interaction and relationship of people. People who have sought each other out for a common purpose. This is a people place not a market place.
Our competitive monetizing society wants answers now on how to use this technology to the advantage of its investors. Society is still trying to figure out how it can use it to address its desire to be connected.