Astroturfing, Pitching and Ghostwriters
The way we market ourselves is changing. Major brands, travel destinations, and even government agencies are spending £m’s on viral campaigns that use ‘managed’ social media postings to market themselves.
However, in commissioning these YouTube videos and mobile games, paying bloggers through inducements and PPC advertising, and sponsoring peer review websites and podcasts, are these organisations crossing the line? Should corporate PR and marketing be allowed to invade ‘our’ personnal space with social media that is designed simply to manipulate the way we think about them, their products and services?
The fact we have terms and even a code of conduct for these sponsored social media marketing activities, indicates just how widespread it has become. So you know what to look for, here are a few terms lifted from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR’s) November 2006 consultation document “Social Media Guidelines“:
Astroturfing is the practice of creating the impression of independent, popular support by means of an orchestrated public relations exercise. The underlying idea of faking grassroots support gives rise to the term, which was coined from the word AstroTurf (artificial grass).
In the context of social media, astroturfing could include the creation of a dedicated blog, posting comments on others’ blogs or on message boards, or submitting ‘amateur’ videos to YouTube; all designed to give the impression of spontaneous support for an product, company or service.
Pitching. With the proliferation of respected bloggers and ‘impartial’ social media sites, a growing number of companies are now ‘actively engaging’ with the most fashionable and popular of these sites and incorporating them into their communications strategies. This active engagement, or Pitching to bloggers, has become commonplace for larger brands; although has also not eluded smaller companies, many of who are will not hesitate sending press releases, corporate videos, prototypes and promotional material to sites they know are popular in their industry sector.
Ghostwriters are another group to look out for. The term is borrowed from the publishing industry and is where a professional writer is paid to write books, articles, stories, or reports which are officially credited to another person, typically a celebrity, company executive or political leader. Within the context of social media ghost writers post professionally written reviews and favourable editorial intended to generate and / or support viral marketing.
Let’s face it, this is simply good marketing, despite what the junk food protestors might say; isn’t it?
Just be aware, everything you see or read out there is not genuine.
Tags: Astroturfing, Ghostwriters, Pitching, social media