Are your tweets trusted or tainted? The realities of social media #fails

With around a fifth of the world’s population on Facebook and some 20 million people joining Twitter every month, social media has provided a new battleground for brands vying for our affection, our advocacy and our money. Unfortunately, this fighter mentality has led to some businesses intentionally overstepping the mark in order to garner competitive advantage.

The worst offenders will use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques, for example, to hide negative results; will delete negative reviews, posts and comments; create fake accounts and post positive reviews; pay for ‘likes’ and fans on Facebook; or leverage ‘click farms’.

There are a number of examples which highlight the unethical behaviour of brands through social media which have prompted concerns among consumers. In June this year, it was revealed that Facebook had manipulated users’ newsfeeds to research emotional responses and consumer products manufacturer Belkin were recently exposed for paying people to leave positive reviews on their products via Amazon. The recent Brit Awards also saw social media controversy as journalists were invited to attend on the condition that they shared pre-determined tweets about the sponsor MasterCard.

These examples and many more can have both a reputational and a commercial impact. In a recent YouGov survey of more than 3,000 UK consumers, just 20% reported high levels of trust and confidence in the information they see on social media. Almost half said they’d be very likely to boycott a business or brand that was found to be acting unethically. Does this matter? Absolutely. As the saying goes, it only takes one rotten apple to spoil a barrel and if consumers turn away from social media, it will close the door on opportunities for all businesses.

What’s more, it’s not just those businesses which might seek to intentionally manipulate consumers that are a problem, many might not even realise they’re doing it. The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s research found that the views of marketers and consumers aren’t always aligned. For instance, seven out of 10 marketers think it’s perfectly acceptable to encourage their business’s employees to share positive brand messages on social media, but only 28% of consumers have that same view – meaning a perfectly well-intentioned business might be damaging its reputation with customers without realising it.

This gulf between what marketers and consumers think is acceptable practice is one of the reasons behind The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Keep Social Honest campaign.

Taking steps to improve interactions between businesses and consumers on social media is a win-win situation for everyone. Consumers want relevant, insightful and helpful content that helps them make informed decisions. Marketers want an effective and efficient means of delivering the commercial outcomes they need. Failing to address this divide will only lead to a weaker experience for the user, and an ineffective channel for businesses – gradually leading to a lack of faith in social media.

Of all the practices undertaken by organisations on social media, creating fake followers and generating disingenuous likes are intended to mislead the consumer. Perhaps the best people to help abolish this type of unethical use of social media are marketers themselves and not the consumer who struggles to identify such unethical behaviours.

There are a number of tactics which businesses can use if they want to adopt an ethical approach to social media practices:

• Put a clear policy in place – so that your business has a benchmark that reflects the behaviours your organisation expects through social media – which can be embedded into your businesses every day policies and procedures.
• Consider appointing an internal ambassador – to champion best practice through social media, sharing good behaviours with your staff and any third party agencies – so ethics are maintained, despite high targets and expectations.
• Share your ‘Code of Practice’ externally – so that your main audiences can see your commitment to using social media ethically and give feedback where it’s needed.

Thomas Brown is the director of strategy and insights at The Chartered Institute of Marketing. Follow him on Twitter @ThinkStuff