Few things in this brave new world of social media remain unchanged for long, and recently Internet practices in the UK took another significant shift with the introduction of new legislation under the snappy banner of “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.” Essentially, the legislation puts in place several significant new protections for consumers and, in effect, imposes new restrictions on marketers including:

• Further clamping down on spam
• Outlawing the use of “unclear advertorials”
• Prohibiting direct advertising/marketing to children to buy products or to persuade their parents to buy products for them (wisely called “pester power”)
• Prohibiting the use of the word “free” if the customer has to pay anything other than the cost of responding or delivery

The legislation has important implications for marketers and advertisers in the social media arena as it also outlaws the following type of practices:

• Falsely advertising on social media sites
• Creating fake blogs (”flogging”)
• Pretending that a blogger is a consumer when the blogger is not (”seeding,” or is being paid to pose as a consumer).

Therefore, practices such as these and others including “astroturfing” and “sock puppets” which also mislead consumers may be illegal. Breaching these regulations could lead to fines of up to £5000 for companies and similar fines and/or up to two years in prison for individual directors, senior managers or persons purporting to act as such who are guilty of “consenting, conniving or negligently” breaching the regs.

However, reputable advertisers should never have been engaging in these type of activities anyway - transparency with your customers, clients and prospective customers is always the recommended practice. These type of activities not only damage the brand if they get found out (think of Sony’s “All I want for Xmas is a PSP” fake blog or the “Wal-Marting Across America” fiasco or Coca-Cola’s “The Zero Movement”) but they also do further damage to the industry. Think of the irreparable damage done to email marketing by the spam industry.

The benefits that the marketing industry can gain from social media will only be realized if everyone involved adopts responsible practices. Whilst the legislation might not stop those determined to abuse the system, we all have a part to play (call it self-policing or whatever you like) in ensuring that advertisers lead the way in being transparent, legal and honest in their communications.

Tags: advertorials, astroturfing, flogs, pester power, regulations, sock puppets, spam, UK

I have recently been asked to speak at a number of events in Europe about harnessing and embracing the influence of social media. Being a regular attendee at many events myself, I know how difficult it can be to remember all that’s been said from the variety of speakers over one or two days. With this in mind I decided to focus on some topline, common sense easy wins for tapping into the power of the consumer-generated media space. Simple ideas that the audience can take away and act on without too much fuss – hence the title “Tips and Tricks for Embracing CGM.”

Learn to Listen
Everything you need to know about your brand and improving it exists in CGM; it’s the ultimate cheat-sheet if you like. A study we did last year showed that the most common feedback/posting activity amongst ‘speakers’ online was providing email feedback to a company. Chances are, these are the people who will be talking about you in CGM and they are likely to be talking about whatever it is they emailed you in the first place. They’re providing you a big clue!

Respond!
Social media is social! It’s a two-way conversation, not like some other marketing disciplines that are very much one-way (think direct mail, advertising etc). If people are contacting you, respond to them appropriately. Your response has the ability to potentially diffuse any negative sentiment or fan further the flames of brand advocacy.

Use Video
Every single product you have should have a product demonstration video. Why? Because video is the ultimate viral tool and you have the ability to control the content. If your video taps into the nub of an issue, chances are it will go viral and ultimately move up in organic search results. Think how important this latter point is if your video is in response to a potentially damaging issue to your brand.

Exploit your website
What were the ‘speakers’ I mentioned in point one most likely to click on first when searching for info on the web about a specific product/brand? Answer = the company website. Again, this provides you with a rare element of control in CGM - helping to seed/shape messages that are distributed virally in CGM. Brand websites have high levels of trust in the eyes of consumers who are eager to hear your side of the story, particularly when it comes to damaging issues. Get your FAQs front and center, try a corporate blog, keep the website fresh and dynamic.

Allow participation
Again, think of the fact that social media is social. It’s about interaction. Tap into the willingness of consumers to get involved. An excellent illustration of this is Barack Obama’s website. See how many calls to action there are in the menu options – ‘donate now’, ‘make calls’, ‘register to vote’, volunteer’ etc. The politicians are doing it to great effect and so can you!

Don’t afraid to be personal
Common sense tells you there tends to be more warmth or less hostility to people rather than corporations. Have a more personal way of looking at interaction and information on your site. After all, social media is….you should know it by now!

Be honest, transparent and authentic
I know this sounds a bit management consultancy but it’s true. Don’t spin! Disseminating info itself creates goodwill – simply give out information and hope the advocates spin it themselves. Don’t put energy into influencing the debate – just get the product and customer service right. If the brand messes up, admit it and resolve the problem. Brands that listen to negative comments and make changes as a result often get more kudos.

Consider what is viral about your product
The top search results for Nestle on Google in the UK read like a horror story of anti-Nestle sentiment. The story in the US is different. Two of the leading organic search results are about recipes. Nestle has tapped into what is viral about their brand (their ingredients are used in baking) to great effect. It might not be obvious, but people use your product/service in some way in their daily lives, so there has to be a viral element somewhere.

Tags: cgm, social media, viral marketing