Social media, once the domain of personal profiles and peer-based social networking, is becoming increasingly standard for business promotion. By joining the MySpaces, Facebooks and Twitters of the social media community, some companies are finding customer bases that would have been hard to come by through other means; some even encourage employees to post and tweet throughout the work day with people the business would like to know. As employees use their personal profiles to tout company and client work, transparency about whom one is working for becomes vital.
Twitter Basics
Twitter, known for its bite-sized post limit, is a great search engine for people with similar interests. Users write short narratives about what they are working on, what they had for lunch and anything else they want the world to hear. A site where people openly reveal their likes, dislikes and tastes seems a ripe environment for word of mouth marketing, but persons who do not disclose their company connections can do more damage than good for the business.
Word of Mouth Marketing Credibility
According to the June 25, 2008 PRNewswire article “Keller Fay/OMD Study Finds Offline Word of Mouth More Positive and Credible than Online Buzz,” there may be a “credibility gap” because online recommendations are usually shared between people who do not know one another very well, if at all. A 2005 report by Intelliseek had similar findings; after surveying 800 consumers, the company found that 29 percent of people aged 20 to 34 and 41 percent of people aged 35 to 39 “would be unlikely to trust a recommendation again” from someone they later found out had been compensated to make the suggestion.
While the compensation method may vary, the principle is the same: it is in the best interest of anyone receiving trade, money, or other incentives to promote a company, product or service to disclose that relationship up front; it is also required for compliance with the Federal Trade Commission.
Using Social Media Ethically
There are several ways to make the most of the social media opportunities available to companies while upholding this directive. One option is to prohibit employees from using their personal accounts for any work-related activities. Create a company account that employees can use to network, instead.
If the company policy allows employees to network using their personal accounts, mandate disclosure for any work-related communication. It is not enough to ask an employee to list the company name or affiliation on their profile page; many users will not even check. The best practice is to identify the motive from the start; disclosure needs to be in the communication itself. Because Twitter only allows 140 characters per post, this may take several posts to accomplish, but the longevity of multiple messages is an opportunity to create engaging narrative.
A good rule is to approach the recommendation as you would a pitch to a reporter. When your company calls the local media about a great accomplishment you had, you tell them who you are and why you are calling. You would never call the newsroom without identifying yourself and then expect them to run a nice piece about you.
Reporters and social media users both like to know their sources. Identifying yourself from the beginning could even have an added bonus – you have established yourself as an authority on the subject if they are in fact interested in listening.
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