This past Friday, I was interviewed for Internet Retailer Magazine’s March issue.  The story is something like, “How to Leverage Social Marketing for Retailers.” During the interview, I was asked if I thought that it was ethical to have one of my staff members using a pseudonym for our social marketing efforts.  My answer is, “100% YES!”

Here’s a few of my Golden Rules for how companies can become “Social Butterflies”:

1) If paying a celebrity to endorse my product is not unethical, neither is using a pseudonym for my social marketing efforts. Take DRtv for example. We hire actors all of the time. It doesn’t matter if the actor is known or unknown. The intent from the advertiser who’s doing DRtv or Social Marketing is the same: develop a “relationship” of trust with the audience you seek to convert into customers. There’s really no difference.  Do you really think that Jessica Simpson and Vanessa Williams use ProActive Solutions? Maybe.  But don’t think for one minute that these actors-for-hire have not been paid — and paid quite well, I might add — for endorsing a product.  I recently worked for a skin care provider who was looking to produce an infomercial (in our world, we call this DR (Direct Response) TV.) We talked to several celebrities including women like Daisy Fuentes, who, I thought, was not in the limelight anymore and might be “cheaper.”  At the time, her people quoted my people a mere $100,000 for 4 hours on set.  I can only imagine what a current pop diva like Ms. Simpson or fashion and acting queen Vanessa Williams might cost for their endorsements.And what about professional athletes who endorse a product? Make no doubt about it:  These people are hired hands!  Dan Marino is not still on Nutrisystem.  Sure, maybe he dabbled a bit so that he could feel good about the monthly paychecks he’s getting for that TV spot he’s on (That TVspot, BTW, is s still in the  top 25 for DRtv spots in this category!)  But I am sure that with Dan’s money, he could hire a Vegan chef and a trainer to get a lot better results than a $400/month packaged food company can provide.  Let’s be real here!

2) In my book, this is no different than a writer using a pseudonym. Same concept, totally different industry.  Writers use pseudonyms to protect their identity. The same holds true for social marketing workers.  It’s a highly personal line of work.  Social marketers are putting their “profiles” on the web in a public forum. They have to have some protection and separation between their jobs and their personal lives. Don’t you think?Here’s an example: At the company with which I’m currently employed, I run 4 major websites and over 2 dozen mico-sites and landing pages, selling products or providing news & information.  Two site are content/informational sites. Two sites are e-commerce sites.  (The 2 dozen micro-sites are all e-commerce sites as well) All of these websites have a common theme and can be considered “in the same industry.”  But each of the major sites has at least 1 “profile” on a social network (such as Facebook) and at least 1 Twitter account and at least 1 outside blog on Blogger or WordPress.  So that my employee’s professional lives do not intersect with their personal lives, I have them each set up different profiles under a pseudonym.  I mean really…who wants pictures of Johnny’s latest Karaoke nite with friends, on your health news profile?”Is that dishonest?” she continued asking in my interview.  100% NO is my response.  The answer to feeling good about working under a pseudonym is in the third rule, below.

3) Social Butterflies must believe in what they are writing. I hire people who understand and who believe in what I sell.  Just like the actor in Golden Rule #1, there are threads of truth (and fiction) in all product endorsements.  It’s important to me, to my employees’ dignity, and to the audience with whom they are speaking, that the conversation is genuine and honest.  I don’t ask women to pretend to be men online (unless they want to do this), or for my 20 year old interns to be 60 year old people. I don’t require my vegan employees to write about eating steak.  What I do, however, is match the right person with the right products.  In job postings, we usually say, “Industry experience is preferred, but not required.” If you’re looking to become a Social Butterfly, I’d argue that this should be changed to, “A passion and understand for the products is required. Loyal customer preferred.”