Why Must We Obey Social Media Rules?

Over the last few weeks we have seen some campaigns and actions in the social media space that have pushed the boundaries. You would have to be living under a rock to have missed the whole Witchery and QLD Tourism sagas. Both of these pushed (or broke the boundaries) in terms of what some of us argue are the rules of social media.

Additionally, Julian Cole and Laurel Papworth have both provided some other examples of individuals (not companies) that have pushed the boundaries of social media.

Julian recently wrote about how "Cash for comment is alright in Social Media" and that there is currently a trend amongst Youtube Vloggers (US) that transparency is not a rule of social media. Laurel recently wrote about "Twitter: Bots gone bad" and interruptive ads on Twitter.

Peter Wagstaff, Zac Martin and I also briefly touched on this subject in episode 84 of the Marketing Today Podcast where I wondered whether in the future, brands will set up Twitter profiles and quickly harvest loads of followers with the aim of spamming them. So what if people block them? They can easily set up loads more profiles and repeat the process (especially when people auto-follow).

The argument of "brand reputation" may stand up in regards to large and reputable companies but these are not necessarily the ones who spam anyway. The risk of brand damage certainly doesn't stop us getting spam in our inboxes.

In Lauren's case, she received an apology. But what I am starting to see is a lot more examples of companies breaking the so-called rules and I am not so sure the consequences are all that much of a deterramt. For example, it can go one of three ways.

1. A company breaks the so-called rules and then pleads ignorance but still benefits (QLD Tourism),

2. A company breaks the so-called rules and benefits (Withchery, Vloggers), or

3. A company breaks the so-called rules, gets caught, and just says "sorry" and everyone gets on with it but they still benefit (@wibbler).

I posed the question on Julian's blog that "For a while some of us have been noting that the rules of social media are being defined by those that practice it (by that I mean active bloggers, twitter users etc) in the hope of keeping the corporate/brands from “polluting it” … but maybe the cracks are starting to appear?"

You will note that each of the 3 scenarios still results in a benefit being received by the company/person breaking the so-called rules. So my question is - why would they bother taking much notice of the so-called rules? Can we build stronger defences or should we resign ourselves to these new channels being polluted just like TV, Radio and Newspaper?

TWEET ME HAWKA

This is an email that I have sent to my beloved Hawthorn Football Club. I will be adjusting it and also sending it to the Parramatta Eels, ACT Brumbies and Super Leeds United.

If you have a favourite brand or team then feel free to use my letter as a template.

Dear Hawthorn Football Club

Congratulations on the cool podcast that you guys are producing. Unfortunately I found it a little bit late in the season and only got the last few episodes. Can’t wait til it fires up again.

Since the GF, I have been active on the social media front and have started my own blog on marketing http://theoysterproject.blogspot.com/ and set-up a Twitter account @danieloyston. I have also got an iPod Touch and have been busy downloading all sorts of cool applications.

Hopefully you understand what I am talking about when I say “Twitter” and “iPod Applications”. If not, you need to get onto Wikipedia ASAP and check them out.

Everyone is on the go so much more these days and we are not always in front of our computers to check out your newsletters or visit the HFC website. Most of us have devices that help us access all sorts of information wherever we are.

I seriously think you guys should get on and set up a Twitter account as well as create an application for iPhones and iPods. In fact, it would be perfect if the Twitter updates came from Hawka!

I checked Twitter and no one has Hawka as their account. So some smart ar#e doesn’t try and register it I took the liberty of registering it to save it for you guys. Check it out at http://twitter.com/hawka.

I spent some time setting up the page with a cool background and uploading a profile pic for Hawka.

Just let me know that you are going to start Hawka Tweeting (wow, the synergy is beautiful) and I will gladly hand over all the account details and artwork. Don’t stress, this isn’t some sort of money making scam where I will ask you to pay for the account – I will just hand it over for nothing – I am just keeping it safe so some stinky Collingwood supporter doesn’t steel it.

Twitter would be especially useful to update the fans with how memberships are progressing and to encourage those that have not signed up yet. You could also use it to send messages about general stuff at the club and keep us in the loop.

You can also use Twitter to follow other Twitter users and monitor what they are saying about the Club and our march to back 2 back premiership.

An iPhone application would help us all get the latest news and results wherever we are and it would feel so much more personal than downloading generic updates from Telstra! Jump on iTunes and you will see that all of the big American sporting teams have their own applications.

The Mighty Fighting Hawks are leading the way both on and off the field. Let us be the first club to get a Twitter account and our own iPhone/iPod application.

Kind Regards

Daniel Oyston

doyston@bigpond.net.au

Grand final Seat: Section Q12, Row U, Seat 6

PS: I have almost worn out my DVD of the Grand Final :)

So how do you think it will go down? Do you think we will see a Hawthorn Twitter account and/or iTunes application? Do you think my email was good or do you think there is something I missed that I immediately email then with?