Social marketing can produce as much bad press as good

Direct marketing through social networking websites can potentially result in as much bad press as good, according to DataTalk Research Limited.

The statistical consultancy group said that as soon as marketers enter the social networking arena, they put themselves open to bad press because their entire audience can communicate with each other and not just the marketer.

Mike Hare, research director at DataTalk Research Limited, explained that negative information about a brand can be exchanged between consumers online in minutes and then spread like wildfire.

“If you do something which is found by members of a social network to be negative for whatever reason, they can put a message out on that social network and be negative about your campaign as fast as you can put out anything positive,” he said.

According to DataTalk’s Marketing Responsivity Index for July 2008, which is based on 1,000 interviews, consumers are likely to become even more responsive to direct marketing in the future.