It aggravates and saddens me that there are still so many major household names that know Twitter is hip, so they jump in and use it without the slightest thought to how to properly engage on Twitter. Yesterday, PETA did what can only be described as using the same tactic as porn and get-rich-quick spammers on Twitter. Don’t believe me? Here’s just one small snipper of their stream from yesterday:
Now let me be very clear. I am not making any sort of statement about the message itself. I love animals, and I always have.
The message was lost when they decided to use spam tactics to spread it. My Asheville social media friend Allie Sullivan said it very well in her post, PETA Spam Wednesday: What Not to Do. They @ed dozens of moms the same message repeated over and over. That is spam. Period.
Their argument was that the message was important, so that was their excuse for ignoring all sense of etiquette and courteous behavior. I might not have even felt compelled to blog about this, in fact, but it seemed clear that several social media moms telling PETA their behavior wasn’t appropriate was insufficient. Their tweets repeatedly defended their behavior based on the fact they felt their message was important. If that were the case, everyone could use that justification.
Here are the replies when I retweeted Allie’s link to her post about the PETA tweets:
It seemed pretty clear that they felt their tactics were justified. Here are a few more tweets:
But I will argue that is not justified.
Social media spaces like Twitter have a way of being community driven so that what really is important to the community bubbles to the top. Proof of that lies in the #prayersforanissa tweets, and the way Twitter moms saved baby #jaeli.
When you try to manipulate the social network to force people to hear your voice, you are misusing it.
It seems very clear that there was an orchestrated effort to specifically target influential moms on Twitter. But using their tactics backfired. Even if you dismiss all other issues here, if you are trying to get buzz on Twitter you don’t want to do it in a manner that results in a nasty backlash. From exactly the influencers you want on your side. Sure, they got clicks. But they also created just as much negative buzz as positive.
They completely tainted the message by using lowly tactics to push it.
Here is just a sampling of the responses they got from moms targeted. (Just for information, in the middle of this they changed their Twitter name from @officialpeta to @peta so this is the same account. Again, not too wise timing in the middle of all of this.)
This is not the kind of buzz you want about your brand, especially as a non-profit with a cause:
You usually don’t want influential moms hurling f-bombs your way.
And of course, sage advice from Lucretia Pruitt, aka @geekmommy:
Here’s the thing. Either PETA (with thousands of followers, so clearly not a newbie on Twitter) knew what they were doing was spam or they didn’t. If they didn’t, they need to put someone in charge of their Twitter account who knows the rules of engagement or hire a consultant to do it or train that person. I would say they should get it, but even after several moms called them on it, they were defensive.
This is a major social media fail.
It also drives me nuts how many organizations and companies target moms without bothering to hire a mom as a consultant first. JUST DO IT! If you find it’s important enough to be on Twitter, to be engaging moms, then it’s important enough to throw a few bucks at hiring a consultant before you ruin your reputation. And on Twitter, it usually means ruining your reputation to thousands of people in one fell swoop.
They also argued that they normally do engage on Twitter, and this was the exception. But I can tell you they were not even following me when they tweeted me, so they hadn’t been engaging with me. They could have done it better by sending a few non-automated DMs to moms they regularly tweet with, moms they have developed a relationship with. Or do what is standard. Tweet it and ask people to retweet it.
You put it in the public stream. You don’t @ dozens of people the same tweet to force them to read it in their replies tab. That is just obnoxious. As I said, it is a tactic that is commonly used by porn tweeters and get-rich-quick tweeters. And that is yet another reason not to do it. How bad would it have been for PETA if several moms reported their account as spam and it got deleted? Yeah, not good. For PETA or for the elephants they are trying to help.
I am a writer/blogger, SEO diva, foodie, social network maven/creator, travel junkie and former investigative newspaper reporter turned new media mom. I was named one of the 50 Most Influential and Powerful Women in Social Media. Find out more about me, about what people say about my work, or hire me for SEO, content, blog or social campaign services.
Well said! I wasn’t a part of the mess yesterday, but I can not understand why they would take the time to tweet without engaging first. They hurt their message more than they helped it!
And it wasn’t just on twitter! I got spammed by email and via facebook. It’s really sad that they don’t know how to handle themselves on social media networks.
Agreed. And I think they may now be going after Facebook fan pages. I tweeted them about it this morning and haven’t heard a response. But if you look at http://www.facebook.com/bostonmamas you’ll see a very similar message from Emily Nash:
“Have a look at these never-before-seen photos that will convince parents never to take their kids to the circus: http://bit.ly/7ha9NL”
Not sure if she is part of their team (I asked) but if so this is absurd.
-Christine
This is a thoughtful measured piece. When I initially received the tweet, I wondered if it was because one of my reviewers recently wrote a circus review on my site. It was only later in the day that I realized several moms had been sent the exact same tweet.
What would have been more helpful would have been a link to the Washington Post article on the topic. (Unlike the shock value of the photo tweet, it presented valuable information.) I will be watching to see the USDA findings.
Yes PETA did get my attention. They just lost some of my respect in the process.
I got an email from Peta. I wasnt taken aback from the email pitch as I get 100s of those and most from people I have never had a prior relationship with. I didn’t discount this as anything different then that.
I am not for or against PETA. I have animals, I love animals, and I am for the protection of them. This isnt really about the message that they are sending but more the methodology they are using.
I do believe that this needs to be a lesson for all PR. That finding a relationship with an individual and a voice with a few that are aligned with your product, business, or thought can be a much more powerful statement then sending out thousands of blanket shock tactics.
The truth is we all share and we all know if its not one of us pitched, but all of us pitched. What could have been a strong article that took a viral force in the right arena, backfired into a joke.
Its a shame all the way around. Again, no winners here.
Trisha
Let this be a lesson to them for the future. Thanks to all of the twitter spam, their copy/paste email to me went straight to the junk folder with out even being read.
Unfortunately for them, it’s not always about the message itself, but in how it’s delivered.
Based on the PETA commercials, they knew what they were doing and just don’t care. This is a group that has no problem advertising in the most sexist, racist, insensitive ways possible and waving off people by saying the ends are worth the means.
I’m a vegetarian, I absolutely support humane treatment for animals, and I blocked PETA as soon as their Twitter account started. Some groups have no desire to relate and discuss.
Rather than the directed tweet from PETA, I got the e-mail. I know many many many other people who got the same e-mail. This is not the best approach for PETA’s marketing/media team. As a mother, I’m pretty educated on things. As a women, I would have to say I’m also educated. PETA, don’t think that we are stupid because we are mom bloggers.
Very nice article Kelby. PETA wasn’t following me either when they decided to @ me. I have to admit that just seeing them pop up in my stream got my hackles up a bit. One look at that avatar with a pig, and I thought I was going to read a scathing comment about my bacon tweets from the previous night. At least that would have been actual communication about something in my stream and relevant to me though . . .
Instead, it was the elephant pic spam, which was 100 times more irritating than being lambasted for being a carnivore.
Not that I don’t like animals – I really do. I don’t, however, like tactics like the ones PETA is using.
[...] the PR nightmare they created when they decided to spam several moms this week. Since my last post, PETA Fail, or How Not to Spread the Word on Twitter, I have learned that they also used email and Facebook fan pages to continue their spam. That was [...]
Interesting. Curious about your thoughts on how it could have been done better. What if they DM’d the Mom Bloggers and asked them to RT the message.
Totally agree with you, Kelby. If I do something wrong and someone calls me on it, I apologize and work to do things better. If I offend someone and someone calls me on it, I do the same.
PETA may have an important message but their holier than thou attitude about “who cares if we did it wrong” is offensive. We may believe in the cause but why alienate the very people who could be supportive? There is no justification for it.
Definitely a #fail for not even realizing or acknowledging what they did wrong. The arrogance puts a bad taste in my mouth for what should be a good and important cause. So shortsighted it is ridiculous.