Our #SocialCV plan for the trolls has worked
A stunt by PR agency Porter Novelli saw much mirth on Twitter last night when it attempted to use the social media platform to find a new staffer and saw the #SocialCV hashtag hijacked. But in this guest post, the agency’s boss Annalise Brown claims it was all part of the plan
Our recent recruitment drive on Twitter, and the media reaction to it, provides a case study for brands on the importance of understanding and managing social media trolls.
Brands having a presence online will, at some point, confront a troll. Anyone who uses social media on a day-to-day basis knows there will always be trolls. The important thing is to know how to manage them.
With any social media campaign, you’re opening yourself up for both quality engagement, as well as the not so relevant, as our #socialCV recruitment call out on Twitter has shown.
Wow! You guys Punk’d Twitter! I tell you what, you PR guys…always thinking three steps ahead.
So as the old saying goes, “any publicity is good publicity?”
So I didn’t get the job?
um, would we call them trolls? Most people were just taking the piss.
https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/hey-dummies-want-to-learn-social-media-at-sydney-uni-162005
Seen it before.
Cue Pee Wee Herman falling off his bike, “I meant to do that.”
I’ll say it again.
Lazy HR. Offensive to people trying to get into the industry as well. Seriously, you’re going to miss out on meeting/interviewing some people with great potential all because some numpty managed to conceive a tweet with greater ‘cut-through’.
I didn’t realise ability to tweet is directly proportional to your ability to be a good account exec.
“We have a set escalation plan for trolls”
“…we ignore them.”
I’m pretty sure that will be the humorous highlight of my week.
That was a PR-industry inside joke, right ?
So we made it look like our company didn’t know anything about social media in order to attract smart people to work here…… hmmm.
“we have a set escalation plan for dealing with them. In most cases trolls are simply ignored.”
Perhaps you have misunderstood the meaning of ‘escalation’?
Porter Novelli really do need a Social Media staffer, don’t they. They don’t even know the difference between a Troll and the general public.
‘Troll’ is the new buzzword that media throw around flippantly as if they are all wise, gurus immune to the oh-so-predictable Internet.
“Our plan for negative publicity worked, lulz. We’re sure to get so much businezzs respect now lols. We win at teh internetz”
is this where i go for the #susanalbumparty ?
Yeah, umm, people having a joke about you is hardly trolling.
It’s like when people say “I wrote a new blog”. Did you write a whole blog… or just a blog post?
Hmmm… so do we now label anyone who does not follow the corporate social media agenda a troll?
I’m with Charles. There’s a big difference between ‘trolling’ and the great Aussie pass time of simply taking the piss!
+1 anonymous. The reasoning in this article is pretty silly/muddled, but it basically equates to this week’s version of Laurel Papworth
Totally agree, Scott and Charles. And saying “trolls” or “trolling” nine times in your post still doesn’t make it so, Annalise.
And herein lies the problem . . .
“Our Twitter call out was designed to give graduates another way to get noticed, while also showing they understand the space we now work in.”
You really think that by tweeting 140 characters it shows they understand the space?? Using a channel has little to do with understanding it. This is like someone mailing a letter and then declaring they understand the postal system.
But if that is the depth of understanding you are after, then go for it.
I think people are missing the point in her article – she isn’t saying that it was their plan to bring out the trolls – she is saying that with every social media strategy, there will always be ‘trolls’ or negative responses and this always has to be taken into consideration. It’s the media that tend to focus on the negative responses and thus declaring the campaign to be a failure. But if they end up hiring their next account executive from this, then isn’t it ultimately a success?
A “‘troll” is not a negative response, a troll is a post contrived by the author solely to illicit extreme responses, often not representing the true views of the author.
It is concerning that Annalise doesn’t know what the word means.
I initially felt a bit sorry for the agency as their initial campaign caught alight and burnt their fingers. But their reaction, best summed up as “Ha ha! Tricked you all I meant to do that! You silly Trolls”, has taken away any of those feelings.
Can we assume this comment thread has been ‘escalated’, therefore explaining PN’s lack of input?
i’m confused – how is this lazy HR? Remember back when Kellogg’s placed their faith in twitter to look for a new PR agency. https://staging.mumbrella.com.au/kelloggs-contest-is-a-cereal-thriller-sorry-48232
People back then said this was genius. Let me guess – the real reason why the ‘trolls’ or ‘social media elite’ didnt bag this is because they wouldn’t dare offend a Marketing Director who could be a potential client one day.
Now the shoe is on the other foot, it’s a different story. I still think this was a good way for PN to get potential candidates to showcase their social media prowess. I also loved reading some of the humorous replies that helped the hashtag go viral. Some!
Unfortunately some people in the industry then went on to question their social media qualifications. Some were actually very nasty. Businesses work very hard to establish reputations and maybe we should all be more mindful before putting down an entire company due to one campaign. Just my thoughts. And just so you know, I don’t work for PN – I actually work at a different agency.
I call bullsh*t.
Fairly certain my Dad is a troll.
This response is a reach at best, but probably the best hand PN had to play.
Everyone’s having a bit of a chuckle at them. BIt of a PR nightmare for a PR agency. Not much you can do other than point your finger and shout at the amused audience ‘trolls!’ before telling everyone, ‘it was all part of the plan.’
Any other ideas on how to handle it?
What would have made this a better display of PR skill would have been if Annalise had broken down the numerous responses they could have used to show their ability to handle crisis situations rather than blaming trolls.
People taking the piss out of your tweet isn’t trolling its simply people taking the piss. Trolling on the other hand is much more than that. A troll would have set up a fake LinkedIn profile and applied for the job only to mock the company if they got an interview. The MSM are baffled by trolls and seem to think anyone who disagrees with someone online is a troll which shows that some of the media still don’t get the Intermet.
@drew – it’s lazy HR, and ineffective HR.
Selecting who you will consider (not based on CV or observed performance in a role – i.e. internship), but rather on your ability to use twitter is based on a flawed premise.
That is, your ability to be a good account exec is directly related to your ability to use twitter.
None of this is important in any way. None of it.
Porter Novelli is the real troll in all this…
*Cough* BULLSHIT *cough.
Or should I say, #bullshit.