What would happen to your company if it lost all of its credibility in one fell swoop?

Most people remember the demise of Philip Morris Tobacco Company’s credibility when then front group, National Smokers’ Alliance, was exposed.

That front group tried to enlist grassroots support, a very powerful marketing tool. It is well known that grassroots efforts can be very powerful in advocacy or politics. These efforts are made up of passionate people who want to reach a collective end goal, and they work towards achieving that goal without needing to be paid or perked.

Astroturfing is fake grassroots

Deception: Astroturfing is a term inspired by the carpet of the same name that is meant to look like grass. Grassroots campaigns are genuine, of-the-people actions. When they are fabricated campaign efforts made to look like genuine actions, they are instead called astroturfing campaigns. In today’s world, astroturfing can take place on or offline. It can look like forcing employees to attend a rally in opposition to legislation or paying for social media support to bolster your online campaign. The issue with astroturfing is that through dishonest tactics, it takes advantage of people’s trust. The bottom line is that you are being deceptive.

Loss of credibility: How customers, stakeholders, competitors and the general public all view you and your brand is determined by many things- but your credibility is one of the most important. Using deceptive practices can undermine that credibility.

Buying social media fans, followers and likes are all forms of digital astroturfing

Bring it home

Are your digital marketing efforts getting too close to astroturfing? To find out, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do the participants in my campaign get paid, perked, or forced to be associated with me, my product, my brand or my campaign?

2. Do the participants in my campaign take on more than one persona to inflate the amount of people supporting the campaign?

3. Do the participants in my campaign give me partial or full control of their social media accounts?

If you said yes to any of these questions, step back for a second and consider that you may be toeing the line between aggressive marketing strategies and astroturfing. What have you thought to do to make sure authenticity and trust are high priorities?