Social Media Product Placement
November 7th, 2008 by GCI Canada Staff[From the start, this is not a post asking for free products, just wanted to get that out there first. It’s an opinion piece, my opinion alone, not my company’s or associates’ views.]
SuzeMuse blogged about how she tells all her friends about products she likes, and that word of mouth marketing can’t be forced. I played devil’s advocate and posted a comment; here’s the edited version: “You find a product (by yourself), you like it, and so you tell all your friends. Cool. So, on the flip side, if a company searches you out and says ‘try our product, and if you like it, tell all your friends,’ then there’s only one more step there that’s different — the fact that you didn’t ‘find’ the product you liked by yourself, but a company did (by making it, and promoting it onto you). Would you not tell all your friends just to be obstinate, admit defeat that you were marketed to? Even though you may really like the product?”
Social media is all about not being used by fickle companies or brands, jumping in to push their wares onto people, and then expecting them to spread the word. I get that. But, to be fair, if a company did aproach me and ask me to try a product THAT I ENDED UP ACTUALLY LIKING then would it be so wrong to tell my friends, “Hey guys, company X asked me to try their ice cream. You know what? It’s quite good actually.” It’s their money, not mine. Maybe they do have budget to blow with no ROI? It’s their risk.
Instead of autonomously discovering a product I liked, using my own resources and time, then liking it and telling people … the extra step of doing the legwork has been taken out of the equation, and someone else found it for me. Such a bad thing? I might hate it … might even tell my friends I hate it — that’s my decision to make, not the company who offered me the product to try.
If full disclosure is included from the start, with no expectations on either side, is it still taboo? Should companies be quivering at the sidelines of social media, afraid to be direct and respectful of participants, cut to the chase and ask them to try free stuff, blog it if it’s enjoyable, don’t if not? No harm, no foul.
I think it’s better to lay the cards on the table at the start in that kind of “relationship” rather than sneak around, dropping teasing hints here and there, making people wary. Or is that not joining the conversation, but rather dominating it?
[Update: Steve Hodson has an opinion too.]
~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada
November 8th, 2008 at 1:10 am
I totally agree that full disclosure is key in the case where a company asks you to try and perhaps promote their product. I think there’s a fine line between companies who do this well and companies who are obnoxious about it.
Thanks for the link, I like your take on this!
November 8th, 2008 at 1:12 am
Thanks for stopping by, Susan.
~ JC.
November 8th, 2008 at 3:45 am
[…] John Carson; in an admittedly devil’s advocate type post, wrote today “You find a product (by yourself), you like it, and so you tell all your friends. Cool. So, on […]
November 14th, 2008 at 1:24 am
I’d agree with both yourself and Suze, John. Being approached by a company to try their product is just the next step in finding it yourself. And, as you say, if you like it why shouldn’t you recommend it.
If there is paid promotion involved, then of course full disclosure is needed or then it becomes unethical merely for financial gain. Yet at the same time, if the company just offers you a sample to try with no motive other than to see what YOU personally think (market research, for instance) I don’t see the need for disclosure if there’s no pay involved.
Thoughts?
November 14th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Tricky. I think if a company offers you anything for any reason, and you blog it — good or bad — it doesn’t hurt to throw that part in. It’s 100% worse if you don’t, get caught out and then you have a firestorm to contend with.
~ JC.