Keep social media honest or consumers with boycott your brand

47% of consumers would be very likely to boycott a brand if they discovered it was operating unethically on social media, a YouGov survey commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) revealed recently. Over 50% of consumers said they had no awareness of brands using the following unethical behaviours on social media:

• Faking a review on a social media site.

• Purchasing followers, fans or connections on social media.

• Paying or incentivising customers to share positive messages on social media without this being made clear to other users.

• Paying someone to promote a brand, product or service within social media without disclosing the payment.

• Falsifying user-generated content (i.e. blog posts, blog comments, testimonials, reviews etc.).

63%of consumers have difficulty in knowing whether brands are using questionable methods on social media.

However, perhaps what is most interesting is the comment from CIM Director of Strategy and Insights “Of particular concern are the wide differences in opinion [between consumers and marketers] as to the sorts of activities considered ethically questionable and misleading, as opposed to acceptable and of no detriment to users. This means it’s not just those businesses intentionally misleading consumers that are the problem – even the most well-meaning brands might be pursuing

activities on social media without realising they’re contributing to a concern amongst consumers.”

In an attempt to address potential future problems the CIM commissioned the research with YouGov and produced a 10 point checklist of key things to consider. See www.keepsocialhonest.com for more details.