Brand behaving badly: Stop pretending to be a happy customer

Astroturf

Recently I wrote a post about a social brand, and someone from corporate left a comment on the post trying to prove me wrong by pretending to be a happy customer of that brand, rather than an employee. For a brand that has spent a ton of time, energy and resources on building its brand and social cred, this is really, really, very, very bad, dirty brand behavior. In a word: Grrrrr.

If there’s anyone reading this that doesn’t understand why this is bad behavior, which I doubt, it is simply the antithesis of being a good social citizen. The opposite of transparent, a blatant misrepresentation. To a brand that goes to great lengths to differentiate on good brand behavior – how well it treats its customers – this is a very good way to very quickly kill trust. In all honesty, I was considering becoming a customer, and I don’t think I can do so now, even though I recognize this is one individual of many.

I have sent multiple e-mails to this individual, to no avail. I could out this person, possibly getting him reprimanded or fired, and possibly damaging the reputation of the brand. Thanks to a consultation with the more-cool-headed @augieray, and @danamlewis and @philgerb, I have opted to continue pursuing other channels of conversation to stop this behavior before trying to draw a lot of attention to this individual/brand.

Perhaps, if you add your voices to mine in the comments, I can send a link and a message to this individual and convince them to stop. Thanks for your help.

P.S. if you are wondering what the heck the photo is, that would be Astroturf. This poor practice is called Astroturfing, and I find it amusing that I didn’t even know that until it happened here. Ha. Sometimes I wonder what planet I live on.

P.P.S. a little tip for any astroturfers or would-be astroturfers out there. When you comment, we can see the IP address so we know that it came from your corporate .com

  • http://www.sohobiztube.com Thatwoman_soho

    Dear Sue: first I think it’s very adult of you, unlike the brand you are speaking of not to out them Jerry Springer style.

    Brands are getting a bad rep. They “are the places we work. The products we buy. The services we use.

    Between consumer and brand it’s a clear give- give for all. But should never be a decieve – to – get exchange.

    @augieray gives darn good advice. Maybe the brand will “listen” to and in between the lines and “man or woman up” & respond to this post. Respects thatwoman

  • http://www.annabarcelos.me Anna Barcelos

    Hi Sue. You touch on an the unavoidable “dark side” of social media -posers trying to be authentic. For some reason, those people are fairly easy to pick out because they are as shallow on-line as off. You quickly tire of them because they are one-sided. And I’m going to check out @augieray because we can always use wisdom.

  • admin

    CD and Anna,

    I agree with you both – @augieray is definitely one of my “go to” people for great advice.

    That said, after consulting with @jasonfalls I decided to repost the comment on the original post, because, as he wisely observed, if the comment is not there because it’s bs, there is no reason for the brand to worry with it. I also posted a link to this post, because I can’t just let the phony comment stand, lest people be misled.

    In the case of this brand, I am particularly disappointed, because they typically appear so *good* in social channels. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming this is one bad apple in the proverbial barrel.

    Thanks for adding your voices!

    Sue

  • http://ExperienceTheBlog.com Augie Ray

    Thanks for the shout out, Sue. Maybe by not outing them publicly, you might even develop a professional relationship with this person or the organization. Who knows, maybe XYZ Corp. (famous for their customer service, transparency, and social media acumen) needs a consultant like you!

  • http://vestorlogic.com Jessica

    Sadly, they probably thought they were “helping”. It’s so difficult, and important, to get the word out to all level of employee that this just isn’t the right way to approach social media. We need to provide a rule book.

    • admin

      Jessica, you may be right. Rule #1: Don’t lie.

  • http://www.sametz.com/roundthesquare Tamsen McMahon (@tamadear)

    What I await, rather breathlessly, is when “brands” realize they are not, actually, something intangible. I see them, instead, as the collective interactions of people with a company (which is itself comprised of people).

    The person to person interactions are where it all happens–where a brand is built, and where it breaks down.

    • admin

      Great observation Tamsen, and becoming more true by the second, isn’t it. The more brands interact, the more our perceptions are shaped by the collective of representative individuals. And if you’ve only interacted with one person from the organization, that is going to trump all of the “hearsay”, reputation, or buzz, in a heartbeat. That doesn’t mean we should be totally unforgiving, if this person steps forward and says “my bad.” I will be sending him or her a link so we shall see.

  • http://Zappos.com Rob Siefker

    Dear Sue,

    My name is Rob Siefker and I’m the Sr. Manager for the Customer Loyalty Team (CLT) at Zappos. Thanks for writing your post, although I’m sorry someone from our team wouldn’t be transparent or forthcoming with their response to your original blog. I doubt the intent of our employee was to be misleading, but unfortunately it came across that way. I wouldn’t claim that we’re perfect, but it’s part of our culture to strive for customer service excellence. In this case, we didn’t put our best foot forward.

    I’m thankful for your blog because it is a learning opportunity for us. We certainly don’t condone “astroturfing”. It’s the opposite of what we want to accomplish as a company. We’re going to remind everyone at Zappos about how important our interactions with people are to our service culture and brand. We’ll use this as an example, and hopefully it will resonate.

    Thanks for your temperance and transparency. Your experience will help us be better in the future, and we appreciate that.

    All the best,
    Rob

    p.s. I’d never heard of the term “astroturfing”. Thanks for that tidbit of information.

  • admin

    Rob,

    I suppose it could have been just an oversight on the part of your employee. Which is one of the challenges of encouraging many employees to participate: making sure they all “get it” without boxing them into “rules” that are too restrictive.

    But whether or not your employee realized that he or she was not being transparent, which we don’t know, the way that Tony and you handled the situation is, in my opinion, a great example for other companies to follow and has completely restored my faith.

    The fact that Tony cared enough to look into the matter in the first place, and the honest, sincere, human “mea culpa” in your response, combined, are exactly what this is all about in the first place: being people instead of faceless corporations.

    You’ve heard me, and its time I gave being a Zappos customer another try and find out what all the fuss is really about.

    Thanks for caring enough to respond.

    Best,

    Sue

  • Ashley

    Sue,
    I hope you really do give us a try! I am a Zappos employee, and this is the best job I’ve ever had.
    Here in KY, we are reaching peak season. This is really our time to shine. I will say, we do have to cut back on the “fun and weirdness” a little during this time, but it is all in interest of providing excellent customer service. However, we do have one rule that seems to never fade, even during peak season. That rule is, a happy employee is a good employee. Most everybody who works here WANTS to come to work every day. We all WANT to do the best we can every day. How many companies can say that?
    By keeping his employees happy, Tony really set standards for how he wants us to keep our customers happy.
    I’m excited to serve you, Sue. I hope you really enjoy your experience with Zappos as much as I have!

    • admin

      Ashley,

      “By keeping his employees happy, Tony really sets standards for how he wants us to keep our customers happy.” You are so right. Enthusiasm is infectious, whether from employees to customers or customers to other customers. And true, there are not many companies that have figured out how to make that a reality.

      I promise, I will give Zappos a try this holiday season.

      Thanks for stopping by. : ) Sue

  • Karen

    I, like Sue, am a Zappos employee too. If you noticed, the pranks being played happened in the corporate office in areas where people were working in an office setting, not in the KY fulfillment center. We are working around conveyors, forklifts, and various other types of mechanical equipment to process inventory and get orders out to our customers in the most efficient way possible. Dropping ping pong balls on people’s heads would absolutely not be permitted. Do we still “create fun and a little weirdness”? Sure we do, but in ways that do not interrupt the important work we have to do. I began as a full time employee with Zappos over 2 1/2 years ago, then found work in my professional field – so I have stayed on in a part time capacity because I love this company and want to continue to be a part of it. As employees of such a great company, we do have to live up to the integrity of the brand, both in and out of the workplace.

    • admin

      Karen, thanks for your comment, it’s a good point and very intelligently stated. I hereby acknowledge that, in a way I am *overanalyzing” your stories, to make a point to others about some of the challenges that social implementation throughout an organization presents. Overall, I still think you guys do an awesome job. Keep it up : )

      Sue

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