Transparency is an issue that continues to arise as social mediums and online communications gain momentum. Social media provides companies with a great opportunity to represent their brands and interact and build relationships with key influencers and consumers. However, if a company fails to be completely transparent in its online communications, the result can be devastating to its reputation and tarnish key relationships.
A great example of how crucial transparency can be to an organization and a brand can be found in a recent incident involving De’Longhi, a leading producer of small kitchen and comfort appliances.
A communications manager for De’Longhi posted a positive review of two of the company’s high-end espresso machines on Amazon.com. Looking for a new espresso maker, Blogger Russ Taylor conducted research online and while doing so, realized that the Amazon.com review was actually written by an employee in the PR department of De’Longhi. Publications including Consumerist and the Wall Street Journal‘s The Wallet blog wrote articles highlighting the inappropriateness of the review and had negative ramifications for both De’Longhi and Amazon.
Being transparent in all forms of communications, whether it’s a blog post, product review, or Twitter account, is paramount to the success of an organization’s communications efforts. Transparency enables a company or a brand to lay the foundation to build thoughtful and engaging relationships with their customers. It also allows companies to instill trust and loyalty with key audiences.
As a rule of thumb, company and PR representatives should do the following:
Provide full and clear disclosure of who you are and which company you are representing at all times.
Never fake a positive review of your company’s product or service. Inevitably, it will come back to you and create unnecessary negative publicity.
If you’re posting or having a discussion about a company, product or service and was paid or hired to do so, inform your audience of the situation to avoid backlash.
As print and digital communications continues to converge with social media platforms, it’s important for companies and PR professionals to abide by ethical business practices and identify the company they are representing to avoid situations such as the one with De’Longhi.
Tags: Amazon.com, Consumerist, De'Longhi, Russ Raylor, Social media, Sylvia Park, The Wallet blog, Twitter, Wall Street Journal Filed under: PR trends, Reputation Management