Bad PR: The Social Media Stalker
Social media is great. Seriously, isn't social media great? It lets you connect with people you might not otherwise have interacted with, it gives you access to new and sometimes fascinating pieces of information, it provides a bit of light relief, and, yes, it can be a great tool for marketing and PR.
It's that last point I have the problem with.
Or, actually, that's not quite right. I don't have a problem with sites like Facebook and Twitter being used as a PR/marketing took per se. I can see how those sites could be useful to people in those occupations, and actually, I don't really mind people using them to pitch me the occasional story idea. Well, I don't mind too much, anyway. Personally, I tend to use Facebook and Twitter for the third reason listed above - a little bit of light relief during the working day - but I know not everyone uses them that way, so it's not a huge deal if PRs want to use those channels to contact me about something.
What I do have a problem with, however, is a certain breed of PR I've come to think of as the Social Media Stalker. I encountered one today, as a matter of fact. In the course of just a couple of hours, this person:
- Emailed me a press release
- Sent me a friends request on Facebook
- Sent me a message on Facebook
- Started following me on Twitter
- Sent me a direct message on Twitter
- Left a comment on one of my blogs
- Emailed me the same press release again
Now, taken in isolation, none of these activities is a problem. As I've said, I have no problem with PRs contacting me, and as long as they're polite about it and the thing they're promoting is relevant to one of the sites I write for, I don't really care which communication channel they choose to do it. My preference would be email, but I'm not going to get upset if someone chooses to use Twitter instead.
The kind of behaviour described above, though? That's not communication, that's bordering on stalking. And OK, when I say "stalking", I mean it in a harmless "on the internet" kind of way, rather than a "standing outside my house, taking photos of me" kind of way, but all the same, when I get seven emails or notifications from the same person, in the same two hour period, about the same thing, I am going to feel just a little bit harassed by that person.
And - here's the important bit - it's not going to make me any more likely to write about the thing they're trying to pitch to me. In fact, if it gets really annoying, it could just have the opposite effect.
This wasn't a one-off, either. It's becoming increasingly common for people to use multiple communication methods to try and pitch me stuff, and it's totally unnecessary. Sure, follow me om Twitter, friend me on Facebook, join every other social network you can find me on, but when you decide to send me a press release choose one method of communication and one only.
Otherwise, sorry, but I'm just going to think you're a social media stalker...
I just started playing with Twitter yesterday, following the APCUG/FACUG 2009 Spring Conference, the theme of which was social networking.
I have already had a few unsolicited PR communications and am thinking of protecting my updates, so only those I approve follow my updates.
Posted by: Steve Costello | March 17, 2009 at 02:04 PM
The social stalker thing is pretty scary. The challenge is to differentiate between the work and personal realms. This line is blurred by some of the new techs. Twitter in particular.
Trevor
Tynt.com
Posted by: Trevor | March 20, 2009 at 04:32 PM
It's your point in paragraph -3 that gets me - do they really think we're more likely to acknowledge them if they bombard us with stuff?
I'm just glad these things all have a 'block' function...
Posted by: Rock Hyrax | March 22, 2009 at 10:05 PM
As a PR person, I'm going to step up and defend the person that did this. It actually sounds like 'mental boss' syndrome, rather than a stalky PR person, per se.
I may be being over generous, and possibly completely in the wrong about this, but it may well be similar to the kinds of calls I get from advertising sales people, where they know I don't want anything, but they're getting hassled to call me anyway, and when we're on the phone we do the polite little dance of no-thank-yous and then they can go back and say they've tried.
PR account executives are generally lovely people, that work hard and don't necessarily understand what they're letting themselves in for.
PR account directors are almost all mentalists that make rash promises to clients, then hammer their poor execs until they deliver.
I imagine the conversation went something like this:
AD: We told client X that we'd get X number of blogs, including Dollface to feature their product. Did you send out the press release?
AE: Yes. Ten minutes ago.
AD: Well, have they featured it yet?
AE: No, not yet.
AD: Well, why not?
AE: Uh...
AD: Well, have you sent it through Facebook as well?
AE: Um.. no. I'll do that.
Ten minutes later...
AD: Has Dollface featured it yet?
AE: Let me check... no, sorry.
AD: The client is going to be furious and it'll all be your fault. Does Dollface Twitter?
AE: Let me check. Uh... yes.
AD: WELL, WHY HAVEN'T YOU SENT A MESSAGE THROUGH TWITTER YET?
AE: I'm sorry. I'll go and do it immediately.
AD: And leave a message in the comments too!
Ten minutes later...
AD: Has Dollface...
AE: No. (sob) I'll... I'll email the press release again... maybe it didn't get through...
AD: DAMN RIGHT YOU'LL SEND IT AGAIN!
AE: (sob) I thought PR was all about going to parties! I quit!
AD: AND YOUR LITTLE DOG TOO!
Or something like that anyway.
Posted by: Alistair | March 23, 2009 at 01:40 PM
Aistair - yes, that's pretty much how it worked when I was in PR myself. I don't think it makes it "OK", though - I think it probably just means that it's the account directors who need to have a rethink! I don't work in PR myself now, obviously, but I get the impression there's a big drive within the industry (and within marketing) to use social media to get the message across, and it some cases it's being done very badly, and is becoming counter-productive.
With that said, I do take your point that most PRs are NOT like this, and I should probably have prefaced this post with the usual disclaimer that these observations don't apply to everyone (thank goodness!).
Posted by: Amber | March 23, 2009 at 02:32 PM
Also: I am still chuckling at the "little dog too" bit!
Posted by: Amber | March 23, 2009 at 02:33 PM
I think that the key to social networking PR is to actually... be social. Here we are having a conversation and I'm not actually plugging anything right now, shock horror. But if I do send something over, I'm fairly sure you'd at least give it a look. Also - I'm actually reading stuff on Writing World, Fashion Police, Grumpy Realtors etc because I find it interesting myself anyway.
Reading bloggers and journalists going off on one on bad PR isone of my guilty pleasures though and I'll always bookmark the best examples of people who do this. So please do keep this kind of stuff coming!
Posted by: Alistair | March 24, 2009 at 12:13 PM