There’s something interesting going on in the PR agency world, one that measurably benefits clients but is rarely openly discussed by public relations firms or the VPs of Marketing who select them.
See, there’s more to hiring a PR agency than meets the eye, and smart company execs know this. There’s something I’ll call Frictionless Caring. That is to say, clients know that some firms have baked into their culture the idea that sharing a client’s social content is as important as attracting new audiences.
Fewer firms resist this than in the past, but it wasn’t always thus. Years ago there was in fact a vigorous debate among PR firms about flogging our clients’ content across social channels. We grappled with the ethics of it all:
Should we always mention that we’re tweeting on behalf of a client?
If our client is up for an award, would it be in poor taste if we rallied our whole agency to vote in the client’s favor?
Are we sullying our own reputation if we give a positive review of the client without specifically mentioning they are a client?
If we comment on a client’s blog, helping to show social traction, should we add a client disclaimer?
And so on. PR agency staff meetings were the forum for spirited debate about ethics and even morality, and about how the lines of disclosure were becoming blurred by agencies who decided to push the envelope without grappling with what’s right and wrong. Making money was right, they reasoned; losing money was wrong.
Inch by inch it became clear that if agencies lend their collective social muscle to the efforts of clients – without being asked or cajoled to do so; without friction – the client will enjoy more traction and thus value our services even more. And it was true. It helped quite a bit to have five or 10 staffers retweeting or commenting about our clients’ content. It showed we cared about their success, and that we were invested in our relationship and found value in their respective content generation efforts.
Fast forward to today. There are no policies in place at PR agencies mandating that employees share their clients’ content (at least, not at reputable ones). Instead, the notion that “sharing is caring” has replaced much of the ethical hand-wringing of days past. We do it because it’s now part of the relationship nurturing process.
Some firms still disclose all client relationships in their social outreach, but often it’s more about trumpeting to the world who your clients are than about worrying about the appearance of impropriety.
One of my clients is Unitil Corporation, which provides natural gas and electricity in New England. Many of their tweets center on public safety messages, particularly during storms. I share their tweets regularly – without disclosing the fact that it’s a client. Why? Because my client’s message is truly adding value – timely information that could possibly even save a life.
There’s not a darned thing improper about that, and it’s almost effortless to do.
Frictionless caring.