Not wanting to start of this post sounding like an episode of Sex and the City, but what are the rules surrounding PR practitioners talking about their client work in the online space? Does it annoy the people not in PR have to put up with our occasional promotional tweets in between personal messages? Should we be posting/tweeting about or client work at all?
Etiquette would have it that most people would be perfectly happy to put up with a few plugs from a PR person, as long as there was a disclaimer stating that it was client work. I've done it a few times on Twitter (with a disclaimer), but I've seen a few people being pulled up for tweeting about client work but not disclaiming the fact.
There's also the issue of people who put up a link on their blog or a Tiny URL on their Twitter feed, but not informing people where the link leads to. Often it is to personal blog post or a clients site. Is this practice frowned upon?
What about people who blog/tweet on behalf of a client? And what if they then retweet a client's messages sans disclaimer? This confuses the issue even more.
I believe that in PR, transparency and authenticity counts for a lot. I'm perfectly happy for people to write about their client work and even plug it, as long as the wool isn't being pulled over our eyes and there's a clear disclaimer that lets everyone know that what has been written should be read from a certain perspective. Sometimes it can be really useful for people to write about their client work as it may be of genuine interest to people who read about it.
Our personal and business lives are so intertwined in the online community that it is often impossible to separate the two in some cases. Even then, it is only good practice to let people know what's going on behind the scenes.
What do you think? Do you let people know when you write about client work? Do you get annoyed when people write about their clients without telling you that they're being paid by them?
(P.S. Apologies, but upon rereading this post, it really does seem like something out of Sex and the City, especially if you read it in Sarah Jessica Parker's whiney New York accent)
Monday, 4 August 2008
Should PR people blog/tweet about their client work?
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11 comments:
Interesting question. I've done both... I don't get paid to tweet by any of my clients. If I tweet about it, I think it will be of genuine interest to my followers (who are mostly PR people). You get a glimpse into my strategy and when others do it, I get a glimpse into theirs. I don't have any clients for which twitter in and of itself is a strategy - if I did, I probably wouldn't be the one sending out the tweets.
It doesn't bother me in the slightest with others tweet about clients. I'm in PR, they're in PR - it's interesting to me (sort of like "talking shop" at a networking event). I would hope the reverse would be true as well. Same is true for blog posts - chances are, I find it interesting (as I did with this post). And if not, c'est la vie.
Great question!
Gotta agree completely with Kelli here and most of the tweets I've seen from the people I followed involved products that were either pretty useful or at least very interesting.
It doesn't particularly bother me when people blog or Tweet about their clients however I generally try and avoid it.
The only exception is if I feel that my client is doing something that will be of general interest to my readers.
As for Tweet links to blogs. I do it for every blog I post but always with a title so there is at least a sense of what the post is about. People choose to follow me on Tweet so I presume they want to follow my blog.
Another good piece Ben.
Like Kelli, i too have done both. My use of Twitter tends to be fairly random when it comes to topics, work probably makes up about 15-20%. I do sometimes post about clients albeit it ranges from trying to get some feedback to perhaps something completely irrelevant..."Off to meet X at Y", which is probably no interest to anyone!
I do agree that transparency is important, especially if you've written a whole spiel about, or on behalf of a client. If you haven't been honest and upfront about it, you WILL get found out and it won't be pretty (see various examples from a major US shopping giant).
Compared to blogs or other such written work, Twitter is a different animal. While i stand by my previous thoughts on the importance of transparency, having only 140 characters to get your point across makes things a little more challenging, but every attempt should be made to convey your stance.
In my opinion, and probably a lot of other peoples, there is a different etiquette for different types of Twitter messages. A DM is a more personal message and if you're talking to someone about a client or product you're involved with you should always make your connections clear from the very beginning.
My mother always told me that honesty is the best policy and I tend to agree.
Apart from the SJP pic, this is spot on ;)
You can turn twitter off and on. If people use their own tweets/posts to promote client stuff too much, they'll be unfollowed pretty soon.
As long as there's transparency, there's no issue as far as I'm concerned. But if there isn't you're on v dangerous ground.
But - I'm not sure a personal Twitter stream's the right place to give a reactive company statement. I think that's where I'd draw the line (though perhaps link to where it is online. Hmmm. Good food for thought Mr Pudding.
It bothers me exceedingly, but if people are too annoying I just de-follow them. If people promote a blog post, event, product research or idea, it's fine - I enjoy that immensely. But if organisations use twitter simply to promote a product without adding any value, then they are treating twitter as a broadcast channel and not as a social network. That is when they become irritating and blocking fodder.
Great comments guys - glad this post sparked a mini-conversation!
@Kelli - I don't have a pay-per-Tweet deal with my clients, just that I'm sometimes tweeting about them and they are (by paying my employee a retainer) essentially paying me.
The "talking shop" aspect is a side I hadn't considered - I would find it reallu seful to learn about other's work and what work they're up to. Nice idea!
@James - I guess people will click on a link if the accompanying message seems of itnerest. There's nothing stopping people immediately closing the link if they don't like what they see when they get there.
@Dan - Fair point about people who follow your tweets also following yuor blog - there's generally quite a crossover in 'audiences' there (in my case, anyway). I often find that putting the post title with a link at the end out on Twitter is generally alright. It's still useful to let people know it links to your blog, but then again there's only so much you can fit into 140 characters.
@Neil - Which US shopping giant would that be? (*Cough* Walmart)You're right about DMs - I think us twitterers sometimes forget that there are other places to talk about client work, like via email or that new contraption called the telephone...
@Chris - Transparency seems to be the keyword with this one. I know of a few companies on Twitter who monitor the conversation but then encourage people to take the conversation to a more appropriate channel - a company blog or forum for example.
Yeah, and apologies for SJP - I did get the feeling that half my article was composed of questions rather than useful ideas (or can a post full of questions actually be useful?)
@Joanne - What about people (not naming any names here) who use Twitter to promote their own blog excessively, particularly those who earn money from their blogs? Surely by tweeting about their blog they are pushing a product onto their followers.
Oh, go one then - Seth Godin would be one such blogger/twitter.
And it's true that the unfollow/block button is just a click away...
@ Ben - a telewhah?? ;-) Personally i think the courier pigeon should be brought back.
I think if those who are getting money from people reading their blog posts, aren't writing anything interesting and are just trying to up their numbers, they'll soon be found out. People won't put up with their time being wasted....one of the reasons why Twitter is here in the first place.
Every blue moon, maybe. And definitely with a disclaimer. I've done it a couple times with the "Work Tweet" preface. My Twitter and Facebook are the two tools I use where my personal life remains personal (mostly).
I think people quite often anecdotally tweet about the their client work, and agree with Kelli and James that it's got that whole 'talking shop' interest factor. I'm always curious to see what people are up to!
But people do comment on Twitter about clients in a way they'd previously not have written a whole blog post which is interesting. You wouldn't forget to put a disclaimer on a blog post, but it's a lot more complicated on Twitter, sometimes literally to fit the words in! If it's excessive we all happily un-follow pretty quickly I think!
Good post - the SATC thing is a good thing you know!
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