My rules on posting comments for clients
Last week Mumbrella revealed an Australian marketing agency is planning to post links within social media discussions on behalf of clients, using assumed identities. The article became one of Mumbrella’s most discussed items to date. In this guest post, Geoff Emerson, boss of The Prosperity Principal, explains how the debate has affected his thinking
When Mumbrella contacted me, I imagined there would be some debate around the Trusted Avatar product I have created. It is a small part of our offering and I somewhat naively believed the debate would reflect this. I won’t comment on the nature of people’s comments or how things could have been handled better, but what I can tell you is that I have thought long and hard about what I would write next.
To put things into context, when I was head of digital at my previous role I helped create social media products and what are still industry best practice processes in many people’s minds. My new company is in its infancy and I haven’t even had time to write the website copy, let alone process documents for new products.
This brings me back to the current debate. The Trusted Avatar product is new and as such had problems that needed to be addressed. I had a set of guidelines in my head about instructing employees verbally and maintaining direct oversight throughout the campaign. Through this process I did a lot of thinking and realised that for such an emotionally charged subject there also needed to be a clear set of written operational guidelines around the product.
Additionally, around the issue of full disclosure I have decided that we are going to recommend that clients always disclose who and what they are.
If a client doesn’t want to disclose at the time of posting for commercial or other reasons the guidelines below will be followed to the letter.
Operational guidelines for employees of Trusted Avatar:
- You get to choose what client you’d like to work on, we don’t want you to work on any product or service that you would not recommend to a friend;
- If you do NOT like a product you will be offered the next available job when it becomes available;
- You will only post what you believe the product is reasonably able to accomplish, no more no less. If you haven’t (or can’t) use the product or have limited understanding you can research the product until you feel comfortable with your knowledge of the product.
- When possible and relevant, include a link and reference to any site where you have made a post. The idea is to thank these sites by creating more organic traffic for them;
- Never leave a link that is not in context or out of character with the community or not relevant to the natural conversation. The link should represent value to the community and you should feel comfortable leaving it whether you are being paid or not;
- You can use your real name if you want, however the supplied persona is to protect your identity, we feel this is acceptable as most people invent an on-line user name or identity that is not their own in order to protect their privacy;
- We are guests in these spaces and we must be respectful of that and never use language outside of community norms and will never engage in personal or defamatory attacks on anyone in the community;
- Please never disparage competitors either directly or indirectly by linking to negative reviews or comments. This is especially important if you are using a supplied persona to protect your identity.
- If someone asks if you are working for a company, please make a full and frank disclosure about who you are working for and why. If you’d like, you can forward these guidelines to them, it may make them feel more at ease knowing our guidelines and it may also demonstrate, that in return for being present at their site, we are endeavouring to deliver traffic to them. If asked to stop, do so immediately. Please never revisit a site that has asked you to refrain – then notify your manager.
- Employees must acknowledge the above rules and procedures and use them actively in every interaction online while posting links as a Trusted Avatar.
Finally, as a contractor to Trusted Avatar, in all matters please use your own best personal judgment.
The guidelines have been developed to ensure that the posts we make, while commercial, are not spam and based on an opinion of the product or service that you indeed hold.
The above guidelines will be part of the employee handbook and will make up part of all training and operational procedures for P2. I am always looking for ways to innovate and in doing so sometimes make mistakes. I will however always strive to make things better and the above guidelines are an attempt to keep Trusted Avatar as a commercial product while still keeping within best practice principles.
Finally I’d like to address the comments posted on the original article:
I think as an industry we should be critical of our fellow practitioners.
I have received much constructive criticism. It was provocative and instructive and I am grateful to those who took the time to frame it.
The work of all of us in the industry will always be better for constructive and critical feedback of others – thank you.
I am open to receive comments, though I think we are all better served by keeping critical comments focussed constructively and not personal.
Constructive critique shows our industry at it’s best – active, involved and thoughtful. It allows all to engage with others freely and frankly with respect for the work, the consumer, our clients and our profession.
- Geoffrey Emerson is Managing Director of The Prosperity Principal
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Im sure that if this had of being the post it would have not be as heated response, but did the almost aggressive responses from the online/media community help you refine your product?
This has also created a lot of potential interest for your product, which im sure once the dust settles down will mean a long line of clients/companies waiting to sign up.
Similar to the uSocial product, i think companies who select to use your product will keep it low profile and if it works they will be happy. I dont see many public case studies built around real world examples of using this product for commercial benefit.
It would also be something that charities would be very suited to using as they often lack internal resources for such intensive marketing exercises.
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Your contractors won’t get paid unless they post comments. You are buying their “opinion”, and trying to justify it with a fancy P&P document.
Analogy: You are a cut-throat dictator offering your troops the “option” to disobey orders. Yes… they can disobey orders, and get shot.
Yes… they can choose the client, and not get paid.
Simple solution: ENFORCE disclosure on all posts with new “Operating Guideline #1”:
1. All posts are to end with the following sentence “This was a sponsored annoucement published by Trusted Avatar”.
If you can’t launch a new advertising product without adhering to basic principles like “truth in advertising” – you have a bad product.
How things start are usually a good indicator as to how they’ll go long term. And you haven’t started off on the right foot. (apart from milking exposure from mumbrella).
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I have to agree with Nathan on this. I watched the debate rage on the other post and sat on the sidelines to watch the outcome without commenting. I think the biggest problem everyone has with this product is the unethical nature of the intent.
“Cash for comments” has a notorious backlash from the public and to set a product with this premise is only doomed to fail. The unfortunate part of this type of product is the companies who post as the product/brand with open disclosure will also get muddied along the way.
Why can’t your rules of engagement say: The avatar icon/name is represented by the product the persona represents. So that consumers can take on board your advice in their space but also know where your motivation lies?
Is this too simplistic a view? Isn’t honesty the best policy?
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Oh no. A guy working out his business model in front of his prospective audience gives no confidence at all
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So after all his “thinking” Mr Emerson still doesn’t understand that buying opinions is a problem and his product is completely unethical?” Dude. Keep thinking.
The guideline
“If you do NOT like a product you will be offered the next available job when it becomes available.” is pure comedy gold.
Is the topic really “emotionally charged” or is your product just crap?
I think the trusted Avatars will be outed in a few minutes bringing down the appropriate backlash against the clients. I hope his avatars are better thinkers than Mr Emerson.
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Why do I keep hearing the words, “Cash for comment”?
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I don’t get how anyone could see this as OK. Unless it’s specifically disclosed, it’s cash-for-comment in a really noxious manner. Just because it’s online – where conveniently of course it can’t often be screened by anyone – doesn’t make it acceptable.
Plenty of companies promote themselves well in an honest and open fashion. Just look at the ISP staff interacting with customers on Whirlpool. There’s nothing to stop someone from a fast-food company dropping into an entertainment forum, mentioning special offers for the first 100 people that give a certain code. Or for someone from a supermarket to drop into a recipe forum and give out some free menu ideas. All disclosed. All for the positive benefit and relevant interest of that community.
But shilling products in a random manner – products the person may not have even experienced, or may think are shit – is just execrable. Giving someone the option not to promote products they don’t like is irrelevant: plenty of people will lie for cash. And once these “trusted avatars” are outed – for they will be – it will create vastly higher levels of distrust and disillusion and disgust with that company and its products than any goodwill achieved.
If you want to promote your product, buy an ad. Don’t infiltrate people’s social interactions in this disgusting way.
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because it IS cas for comment.
This never works. Acting as a member of a community to build buzz on a product has a severe backlash.. see the sony PSP “graffiti” adverts, the youtube raps and many other attempts to cash into social media.
The online community will always catch you, and string you up by your heels…
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The solution is actually really simple: If you are being paid by a company to post links and comments on blogs and forums then FULL DISCLOSURE is required with each and every post.
Consumers will respect you and the company you are working for a whole lot more by taking this HONEST approach.
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I’m sorry, but misrepresenting yourself for money is still manipulative and dishonest no matter how the employer dresses up the concept of a ‘supplied persona” being used to promote a client’s business/product.
I will be deleting any comments that I suspect are paid opinion.
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I have really mixed feelings on this.
Firstly – I have used reviews and blog comments to help me decide on technology purchases. So, no, I don’t want to see (blind) comments from people being paid to endorse things.
But on the other hand… how can you stop this?
I have long said that the clever companies would already have part of their marketing teams set up to do just this.
It’s going to happen – just like music being downloaded and file-shared for free has happened and it won’t be stopped.
Perhaps I am cynical, but now when I read restaurant reviews online, I just think to myself that the owner and owner’s family have written the good comments and that their competitors have written the bad comments.
I don’t know what to think…
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Emerson is putting together a product he believes in, and has in fact thanks to Mumbrella been able to crowd source good ideas on its usage.
The market will decide whether the product is of use, what we think of it is immaterial. People have such vitriol, yet this is no different from many alcohol brands paying incognito promotional people to drink their product at bards, something that has been going on for years: were the critics lashing out at this as unethical.
I personally wouldn’t use the product, but bravo to Emerson for at least having the guts to put it out there, and show restraint in his responses.
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Of course, by bards I am referring to Elizabethan pubs 😉
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hmmf, I’m bored.
You’re making things complicated. Just don’t lie.
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I think we all need to step back and have a break from this discussion… maybe some lunch??? Speaking of lunch, has anyone tried the new seasoned chicken range from KFC, freshly made to order, piping hot and loaded with flavour? Check it out now at your local KFC store…
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If a company employee genuinely likes the company they work for, they might reference products or services in a blog or Facebook etc, but might not reference that they work for the company unless asked. Employers actively encourage this practice and actively monitor employees that bag their jobs and bosses on the same kind of sites.
When does spam become ham – looks the same, might even smell the same but offers a slightly different experience?
Brands have benefited for a long time by people just word of mouthing recommendations. Everyone knows its the best form of advertising and best of all, it’s totally free. When do the consumers of the products start to benefit from passing on all this good oil?
Geoff, what if you change your format – make the prospective employees come to you and tell you about products they really love and enjoy and have knowledge of and are passionate about. Then keep a register and contact those to work on a campaign based on identified personal relevance and preference.
“Yes, I would love to get paid for passing on recommendations that I already pass on anyway”. Pureprofile passes money to consumers from advertisers in order to encourage the consumer to go and look at information about the product. This pays consumers for passing on that information to others…
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I wonder how successful you’d be if you changed rule 9 to:
“9) Always make a full and frank disclosure about who you are working for and why….”
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I wonder if it’s time to have a user generated “name and shame” site, where we can submit brands/companies that use such methods?
Surely the SEO ramifications of being outed as using backpackers paid to comment would outweigh the few clicks that such comments would generate.
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Bob has nailed it. Point 9.
If you’re paid and don’t offer disclosure upfront, you’re clearly misleading.
Analogies with bars are romantic. I’ve never in years of booze work, considered covert purchasing punters. It’s as crass, dated and ultimately (in)effective as the claques of old.
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You are showing your ignorance with SEO. This is an offensive and dumb technique with little or no SEO value. Today’s show on the topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71RbTtCkopo
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Emerson’s rave is like painting flowers on the electric chair – you ain’t fooling anyone.
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“If someone asks if you are working for a company, please make a full and frank disclosure about who you are working for and why. If you’d like, you can forward these guidelines to them, it may make them feel more at ease knowing our guidelines and it may also demonstrate, that in return for being present at their site, we are endeavouring to deliver traffic to them. If asked to stop, do so immediately. Please never revisit a site that has asked you to refrain – then notify your manager.”
Does this include disclosing the client? Is this guideline “flexible” to suit the client’s needs?
The reason this will ultimately fail is because it’s underhanded and it will be nearly impossible to disguise the client which will suffer brand damage as soon as their marketing tactics are revealed.
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This doesn’t change anything for me: people (under an assumed identity) will still, as I understand it, be paid to endorse products they may otherwise not have used or personally endorsed. I agree with one of previous posters: the online world will catch up with such a scam. Just as word of mouth (especially in an online world) can do good things for a good product, how long before a friend of a friend of someone being paid to do this opens their mouth at the pub, starts a group on Facebook or Tweets to reveal the scam? Instant PR disaster for the product.
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This form of marketing does nothing for the credibility of the brand in focus. Earlier this year Naked Communications did the hoax man in a jacket campaign for Witchery and Cummins Nitro created the fake tattoo for Tourism Queenland’s best job in the world.
Tricking people to pay attention to your product using Social Media reminds me of the Snake Oil peddler stereotype, the authentic Chinese Snake Oil medicine was beneficial for pain relief but the imitator product sold by traveling sales rep didn’t have the manufacturing skill or ingredients to replicate the original medicine. So what ends up happening is we become even more cynical of advertising and disbelieve most of what we read.
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