A few weeks ago I got a spammy email from Publicis Mojo representing Metamucil in an attempt to engage the blogging community. Nick Hodge covered it nicely here since a number of us blogocrew received the email.
Given that I’ve made more than my fair share of community mistakes in my life and seeing that they admitted their error and said they’d try to learn, I decided to take them up on their offer of free product. Two reasons. Firstly, hey, free product, maybe I’ll like it and I’ve been struggling for Christmas present ideas for myself. Secondly, I was wondering if Publicis Mojo and Metamucil were aware of the thin ice of community endorsements.
If a friend or community recommends a product it is very very good. People trust the recommendations much much more than they trust marketing doofuses yelling at them.
But….
In order to stay trusted, friends and communities must be honest. They must tell the truth. That’s a vague, grey, mushy area but on the whole, in the long run, at the end of the day it will be clear to everyone whether you’re a pimp or pal.
So here is my unboxing of the Metamucil community engagement campaign…. let’s see how they go.