Social Media Ethics: Is Using a Ghost Blogger Ethical?
Tools of social media are fairly new and are rapidly growing in popularity. The standards and guidelines of how social media is used are still being defined by consumers and digital marketers every day. One of the biggest debates about having a business blog involves social media ethics: is it ethical for a business to use a ghost blogger?
Although this is a very opinionated question, there can be some rationale behind ghostblogging. If you consider the traditional marketing tools used by business, blog entries can be much like weekly corporate newsletters. Those letters aren’t always written by the corporate executives or by the business owners, but yet they are released after editing and approvals. Ghostblogging is very much the same because the bloggers that are hired will take the time to understand a company and sound professionally aligned with the business.
Blog submissions have many online and consumer building benefits. A company cannot afford to miss out on them simply because the social media ethics behind ghostblogging are still undefined. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of using completely an undisclosed ghost blogger, consider some variations that may help you feel more at ease:
- After your ghost blogger writes a post, have someone else in your organization edit the post before it is published. Your workload is still undisturbed and you’ll know the company’s values are intact.
- Disclose that you are not the author of the blog at the bottom of each post. Include a note that says you may not have written the content but you agree with what is written. This way you are more comfortable with any trust issues you feel may come up between you and your consumers if they find out you use a ghost blogger.
- Use additional media when trying to reach your audience. Blogging doesn’t have to be your only source of real time media; try creating videos or fan pages to get people interested in your events and opinions.
Avoid letting others dictate what the appropriate business conduct for blogging is and trust a professional ghost blogger to tastefully handle your online presence. Instead of waiting for others to define the social media ethics behind ghostblogging, just choose to keep a close eye on your business blog. The benefits of maintaining a blog are numerous.
