Late 2009, AdAge guest columnist Michael Werch conducted a social media experiment where decided to impersonate a famous brand and see how long it would take for them to notice and what the resposne would be.
For two weeks, he 
posed as a Twitter representative of Heinz under the username @HJ_Heinz where he shared information about the brand as well as recipes and tips when using Heinz products. In other words, he was an advocate for the brand. Once Heinz got wind of the account, however, it was swiftly shutdown and Werch’s username changed to @notHJ_Heinz with a stern warning that he had violated Twitter’s rules.
In contrast, @Adelaide_FC started life as the unofficial Twitter account for the Adelaide Crows with an unnamed fan tweeting regular updates and news about the team including links to the Crows official website. Once the Crows found out about it, however, they did not ask Twitter to close the account but instead reached out to @Adelaide_FC and asked if he would continue tweeting officially for the team.
Today’s digital tools have empowered consumers to spread the word and share their passion. However, it is up to brands themselves to decide how much control of their brand and their message they are willing to cede to their customers.
How much control do you think an organisation needs to keep over their brand?
Do unofficial brand advocates need to be kept on a leash to prevent them from saying something damaging or are brands better served letting them spread the word authentically and without interference?
i think companies need to let go of the illusion of control and embrace it for what it’s worth, although it should be made transparent i.e. people should state if they are officially speaking on behalf of the company or not, maybe the company can start some sort of accrediation program and list advocates on their website, i mean the issue is that social media sites are exploding and every day there seems to be a new service, it may be twitter today but who knows what may be the hot social network a year or two years from now! locspoc
Great idea. Blogger outreach programs need to be part of a companies PR strategy and have been steadily gaining momentum in the US. While this hasn’t been much of an issue in Oz, expect this to change as more and more people rely on their social media networks for recommendations.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by malchia: Thanks for the RT and comment RT @locspoc: A (Short) Tale of Two Twitter Squatters http://bit.ly/9im59N…
Good move by the Crows. Companies need to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Gives the companies a more human touch rather than the Heinz approach which makes the consumers feel like they are “going after the little guy”.
Exactly right.
Empower your customers and they will sing your praises from the hills, in other words.
It goes back to trust and the fact that people are going to be more willing to trust a passionate fan than a corporate shill.