Yes that title is a bit over the top, since I am not an official 'rule' maker, I'm just one person offering my opinion.
Much has been written about the role of PR in blogs in the wake of the Edel-Wal story. Recenty, Robert posted his notes and Shel says enough (with some great comments). The entire affair has brought forth a discussion on ethics, disclosure, transparency (the new buzzword) and if PR can truly co-exist with blogs.
When working with a client here are some basic rules for developing a blog that PR wants to be involved in. If you can't adhere to all of these, then you shouldn't even start. It will sound a bit like a cliche, but remember blogs are about conversation and building relationships. Just like any relationship, whether it be with a significant other, friends, family or customers there needs to be openness and honesty.
1. Don't Lie. The truth always comes out. And when the truth does come out, you've got some explaining to do. You don't lie to your friends or your family, so why do it with blog readers.2. Don't Hide Important Facts. Similar to number one, but some people say that there is a difference between a lie and hiding the truth. If you want to get technical, yes there is a difference, but in the end, the result will be the same. You will have broken the fundamental trust with the other person, and that's hard to get back.
3. Don't Pretend to be Something or Somebody You're Not. This also goes back to the first one, the truth will always come out. Just think about anytime you told a potential girlfriend/boyfriend a small fib to impress them. How did that turn out when they discovered you didn't really know Brad Pitt, or had never really run the New York Marathon?
4. Be Yourself. Perhaps another way of saying number three, but it's worth repeating. As with relationships in real life, you want people to like and respect you for who you are, not what you 'appear' to be. By putting on a front, you might achieve a short period of happiness/success but ultimately you'll be unhappy and you'll strain the relationship. Write in a style and tone that you're comfortable with...that will help with burnout as well.
5. Improve Yourself. Improve the product not the pitch. Many times people don't follow the previous four rules because they are ashamed of something, or trying to hide something. So rather than fixing their own problem they'll lie, hide it, etc. The original problem is still there and will continue to cause issues. If you're blogging and have to lie or pretend to be somebody else, what does that say about you and your position?
To use that other standard cliche, treat your blog readers the same way you would like to be treated. Think about it, if you had a friend which didn't follow the rules above, they wouldn't be your friend for long. With a blog, if you're not following the rules above, you won't have readers for long, and if the transgression are serious enough, you'll impact your reputation in a big way.
I have had corporations approach me to assist with blog projects, and for some reason or another they couldn't follow the rules above, so I don't take on the project. As an independent consultant I have that luxury. Things are different when you're working for a large agency or internally for a corporation. That's the billion dollar question with the Edel-Wal issue. Was is really some account group working on their own and not realizing they were breaking the rules? Or did Edelman say, 'We can't do this' and the client saying, 'Yes you will, otherwise we'll take our huge account somewhere else'?
People often say that blogs can be used to 'humanize' a corporation, and this is true to some degree. The corporation isn't really humanized, but a blog exposes the actual 'humans' within the corporation. This exposure allows two humans to actually have a conversation, which if done right can be a rewarding experience and build an actual relationship between the company (via the blogger) and the customer. However, if you don't follow the rules you're ultimately setting yourself (and your company) up for failure.
Visitor Comments
And what do you do when a friend bends the truth a bit or when your boyfriend/girlfriend embellishes the truth a lot to impress you? You forgive them and...move on. I am not sure we should set up rules but rather learn our lesson from the Edelman-Wal-Mart flog. However, we also need to realize that mistakes will be made in social media (even if some people argue that blogs have become mainstream already). And this won't be the last one we can blog about!
Posted by: Tina Lang-Stuart | October 25, 2006 9:57 AM
Thanks for the post Josh. We have been talking a lot about the Edelman debacle in class and it's nice to see someone post something that is a solution to the problem rather than reiterating the fact that what Edelman did was wrong.
I am new to the blogging scene, but I think it could be, if used properly, a very useful tool in PR. It gives you a way to contact directly with your clients or potential clients. All interviews that I have been on for jobs I have boasted about blogging and how it is the new wave or PR, for now. Because blogging is lawless it's hard to convey to potential employers the guidelines for blogging in PR.
Now when I go on interviews I will definitely keep these things in mind when I am questioned about how to monitor ethics in blogging.
All the rules that you listed above are things we, as children, learn in the early years of our education. I think too many times we get caught up in trying to get ahead and forget where we,at one time, came from.
Posted by: Rachel S | October 25, 2006 10:53 AM
Tina, good point, but if you had a friend/gf/bf you would forgive them, but how many times would you let that happen before you moved on? Two times? Three times? At some point the lack of honesty becomes an issue.
Posted by: Josh Hallett | October 25, 2006 12:10 PM
Josh, I like your point about improving the product and not the pitch. To me that's what's marketing and blogging is all about. Blogs give us the chance to conduct a dialogue with an audience, we can listen to what people say, agree with them and make changes. Or disagree and explain why. A lot of credibility is gained from how you change your products, and blogs present the opporunity for all the world to see what you are doing.
On the issue of companes following what clients ask them to do. I don't know anything about Edelman. But if I was talking in general about that issue. I'd say that many business people are faced with that dilemma every day. And unfortunately or not our business culture condones such behavior. I am hoping that blogs are helping to make it more and more difficult for employees and vendors to cave into to such requests. As now we can tell clients that not everyone is doing the action you requested, in fact its getting a lot of people into trouble. And now lone professionals have a better community to chat with about these issues. Edelman's recent example might not look good today, but maybe it will help the industry in the long run.
Posted by: John Cass | October 26, 2006 7:53 PM
I love reading tips like this, Thanks Josh. I think these are some of the MOST important things everyone HAS to remember. These things are so important, we learned them when we were growing up in elementary school!
People need to know these, and live by them. Everyone can be reminded of how these will always come back to haunt you if you do not live by them. Thanks for reminding us!
Posted by: Elizabeth Wood Rodgers | October 30, 2006 11:24 AM
Josh, good post. I think it's always important to be yourself when it comes to blogging or anything else. If you are not yourself or you continue to lie then the truth will come out. If you blog enough and have readers that are reading your blogs on a regular basis then they will come to know you like it is in any relationship. You will continue to have more readers if people can recongnize this.
Posted by: Adam Keeshan | October 30, 2006 1:08 PM
I'm frustrated that PR blogs seem to be setting some agenda of what to "buzz" about in regard to Wal-Mart. Yesterday I complained all over (including WOMMA) about Wal-Mart's obvious manipulation of Digg. I just happened to be on Digg when someone made a Wal-Mart "Black Friday" posting - that was clearly pseudo-subversive. There were INSTANTLY hundreds of Diggs, but very few comments. Most of the comments were "Check out this deal!" - with only a few comments from real people complaining about the obvious spam at the bottom. Why aren't people who care about ethical PR looking into this? Do you really need some big "thought leader" to cue you before you take a look?
http://digg.com/tech_deals/Walmart_s_Entire_Black_Friday_Sale_Information_Posted
Posted by: look at this please | November 14, 2006 12:29 AM
Wal-Mart seems to have backed up its DiggTurfing with "supporting blogs":
http://blog.fack.org/2006/11/09/walmart-black-friday-ad-leaked-online/
Why isn't anyone in the PR blogosphere interested in this?
Posted by: look at this please | November 14, 2006 3:38 PM